Trump says Iran war will “be over quickly” as Tehran seeks to lay claim to Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. has had “very good talks over the past 24 hours” aimed at reaching a peace deal with Iran, President Trump told reporters during an event with UFC fighters at the White House on Wednesday.

It wasn’t clear if the president meant the U.S. and Iran were talking directly or via Pakistani mediators.

“They want to make a deal,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours. And it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal.” 

He acknowledged that there had been “some good talks before, as you know, and all of the sudden, the next day like, they’re like, they forgot what happened.”

Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the war with Iran was going “unbelievably well.”

After an event to honor military mothers at the White House, he also favorably compared the operation in Iran to the one in January that saw former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro captured in his own capital city.

“We’re in a — I call it a skirmish, because that’s what it is, a skirmish, and we’re doing unbelievably well, as we did in Venezuela, where it was rapid, over in one day and we’re doing pretty much equally as well I would say, larger, but we’re doing very well in Iran.”

“It’ll be over quickly,” Mr. Trump predicted later Wednesday of the Iran war during an event to support Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones.