Trump says the Iran war is ‘close to over’. Is he just out of options?

Halfway into a two-week ceasefire and with a stand-off in the Strait of Hormuz, the US president was running out of time, they said, adding that a deal was still possible.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said the United States was “not done” but the six-week-old war was nearing the finish line.

“I think it’s close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to being over,” he said.

American forces have “completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea”, US Central Command said in a social media post on Tuesday, flaunting its “maritime superiority” in the Middle East and prompting threats of retaliation from Tehran.