Vahid Salemi/AP Photo
President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz as the primary flashpoint. Trump said in August that the U.S. would launch a “crushing economic operation” to force Tehran into submission.
Trump says ‘no chance’ Iran war will last rest of his term
President Donald Trump dismissed reports Thursday night that his advisors have warned him the Iran war could last through the end of his term.
“No there’s not even a chance of that,” the president said.
The president’s timeline has shifted repeatedly. He initially said the war would last four to six weeks.
The president was also asked about oil prices increasing as the war with Iran continues. Trump repeated his claims that prices will drop once the war ends.
“When that ends, I think it’ll end very shortly after the election — could end before the election — but I think it’ll end very shortly after the election, the prices will go down to less than $2 a barrel, $2 a gallon for oil,” he said.
Several US warplanes damaged in Iranian attack on airbase in Jordan earlier this week: Sources
Several U.S. warplanes were damaged in Iran’s attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan earlier this week, two sources with knowledge of the incident told ABC News Thursday.
One A-10 attack aircraft was hit and lost a wing, while about eight F-15 fighter jets sustained light damage and were put back into service, they said.
The president had denied reports about U.S. aircraft damage during a news interview earlier Thursday.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Shannon Kingston
Iran producing limited number of ballistic missiles: US official
Iran has resumed producing limited numbers of ballistic missiles at underground sites, relying on components that were stored before the war began, a U.S. official familiar with the latest intelligence assessments on the matter told ABC News.
According to the official, Iran is manufacturing the weapons at a significantly slower rate than it was before the conflict.
It’s unclear whether Iran will be able to continue manufacturing the missiles after its stockpiles run dry, as damage to the country’s production sites and the ongoing U.S. blockade have complicated its ability to make or procure the necessary parts, they said.
The intelligence findings were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Trump denies reports of damage to US aircraft from Iranian strikes
President Donald Trump denied reports that a U.S. military aircraft at a base in Jordan has been damaged by Iranian strikes in an interview with NewsNation Thursday morning.
“Nope… None whatsoever. No damage. No nothing,” Trump said in the interview.
NewsNation then pressed Trump on the timeline for ending the war with Iran. Trump said he thinks the war will end “after the elections,” but then added that it could be “maybe sooner.”
“I don’t know that they’re gonna be able to hold out,” Trump told NewsNation, when asked how Iran could continue holding out under the current economic pressure. “But it’ll get settled after the elections. Or maybe sooner. But it’ll get settled right after the election.”
Saudi airstrikes on Houthis intensify as ground fighting continues
The Al-Masirah television channel — controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen — reported on Thursday that Saudi Arabia struck around 40 targets across four Yemeni regions over the previous 24 hours.
Recent weeks have seen the resumption of significant fighting on Yemen’s western Red Sea coast, with the Houthi rebels clashing with forces loyal to the Saudi-backed, internationally-recognized Yemeni government.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule and Guy Davies
Trump says ‘movement’ detected at Pickaxe Mt., threatens new strikes
In his remarks during Wednesday’s GOP midterm convention, President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. may strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a known site for nuclear centrifuge assembly, which was not targeted in the U.S.’s initial strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“There’s another place called Pickaxe Mountain. Another nice place. We may have to give them a shot there, too, because somebody said there was a little movement at the site,” Trump warned.
“We noticed there’s a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard. We have no choice, right?” he added.
The president also floated naming the Strait of Hormuz after himself after claiming that oil prices would come down “as soon as we win the war with Iran.”
He added, “We control the Hormuz strait. I think we should call the Hormuz strait — we should call it the Trump — I should get something out of it — the Trump Strait,” he said as the audience cheered.
Trump says war will end and gas prices to fall after the midterms
President Donald Trump said the war will end and gas prices will come down after the midterms.
“I think the war is going to end immediately after the election. I think the war will end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Iran condemns IAEA resolution on its nuclear program
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi condemned the International Atomic Energy Agency’s resolution on the country’s nuclear program on Wednesday, saying that the resolution is based on “fabrications” and will not achieve what its signatories intend.
“They attack Iran’s nuclear facilities under safeguards, disrupt the normal verification process, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to issue a resolution at the Board of Governors,” Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X.
The IAEA reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council for failure to cooperate in a long-running investigation into uranium traces detected by inspectors at various undeclared sites in Iran, according to the Associated Press.
The resolution was put forward by the U.S., Britain, France and Germany, according to the AP.