Kamal Ghorui
DUBAI/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the war he launched with Israel on Iran was “close to over”, even as 10,000 additional US troops move into West Asia, and Pakistan army chief Asim Munir arrived in Tehran with a mediation team to try to prevent a renewal of the conflict. Quoting current and former US officials, The Washington Post reported that the US was sending the additional troops before the end of April as Washington tries to increase pressure on Tehran. These include forces aboard the USS George H W Bush and the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group. It was previously announced that roughly 50,000 troops had been involved in operations in the war on Iran.The build-up comes amid efforts to extend the two-week ceasefire between US and Iran. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Munir, who mediated the last round of talks, was in Iran “to narrow gaps” between the two sides. “I think you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead,” Trump told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, according to a post by the reporter on X, adding he did not think it would be necessary to extend the ceasefire. “I think it’s close to over, yeah. I mean I view it as very close to over,” Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network conducted Tuesday and broadcast Wednesday. “We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”
