US President Donald Trump said Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, claiming a breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just hours after the American leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing control of Iran's oil industry. Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalised to end the conflict that began February 28 when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran. Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran.” He offered scant details, other than to say he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire that started in April to be finalised “over the next few days.” Extending the terms of the ceasefire gives US leaders more time to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear programme, the main reason Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war.
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