[Regnum] US President Donald Trump announced the end of the military operation against Iran. This was reported by Fox News journalist Maria Bartiromo on April 14 after an interview with the White House chief.
“He said, ‘It’s over,’” Bartiromo said following her interview with the American leader.
The journalist did not provide any additional details of the conversation with the politician.
Earlier, US Vice President J.D. Vance stated that the White House believes the goals of the military operation against Iran have been achieved and that it is possible to move towards winding down the conflict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran and the United States made some progress during talks in Islamabad, but failed to reach an agreement because the American side kept changing its demands.
US-Iranian talks took place on April 11. Following their conclusion, US President Donald Trump stated that the parties had agreed on most issues but had not reached an agreement on nuclear development.
According to Cetiner Cetin, a correspondent for the Turkish publication Habertürk, a fight nearly broke out between Araghchi and US Special Presidential Envoy Steven Witkoff during talks in Islamabad. The journalist stated that tensions reached a breaking point during a discussion of mechanisms for controlling shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the ceasefire must extend to all conflict zones, including Lebanon. Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, expressed concern about the attacks on the country and pointed to the situation developing along Palestinian lines.
On April 11, the online portal Axios reported that Lebanese and American authorities, led by Trump, had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to temporarily halt attacks on Hezbollah before the start of direct talks between Tel Aviv and Beirut next week. According to the portal, some officials agree with the White House chief's proposal, as a pause in strikes would be "in the interests" of Israel.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on April 11 that the Iranian side stressed the importance of a ceasefire in Lebanon during talks in Islamabad.
Join me tomorrow for my #exclusive @MorningsMaria @foxbusiness w @POTUS @WHITEHOUSE 6-9am et pic.twitter.com/y8d6AR1qfi
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) April 14, 2026
The Times of Israel lays out the sausage making over the course of the day:
US president gives contradictory accounts about speed of progress in negotiations; Barnea says Israel planned for campaign aimed at regime change ‘to continue even after strikes end’.Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, said that the outlet’s foreign policy correspondent, who is currently in Islamabad, "should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days."
He told the newspaper that Pakistain’s Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was doing a "great job" on the talks.
"He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there," Trump said.
Less than an hour earlier, however, Trump had given the Post a more pessimistic estimation, telling it that dealings with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
were progressing slowly and that if a meeting were to happen, it would likely not be in Pakistain.
"Things are happening, but a little bit slow... I don’t think it’ll be [in Pakistain] that we have our meeting," he said. "We’ll probably go to another location. We have another location in mind."
Pressed on whether the US was considering
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
as the next host, Trump responded: "No, somebody more central. Europe, maybe."
It was unclear whether there was an actual development in the contacts in the time between his two interviews.
Sources also told Rooters that negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad this week to resume talks to end the war.
Later in the day, Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo said US President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
told her the US-Israel war with Iran is over during an interview set to air in full on Wednesday, appearing to undermine his threats to resume the war if Tehran doesn’t agree to his terms for a permanent ceasefire.
But in excerpts of the interview, Trump was not that definitive, saying, "I think it’s close to over, yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over."
He added, "If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly."
Vice President JD Vance meanwhile stressed that Trump "doesn’t want to make, like, a small deal. He wants to make the grand bargain."
"That’s the trade that he’s offering," Vance said of Trump, who is telling Iran that "if you guys commit to not having a nuclear weapon, we are going to make Iran thrive."
"We’re going to make it economically prosperous, and we’re going to invite the Iranian people into the world economy in a way they haven’t been in my entire life," added Vance, who was addressing a Turning Point USA event in Georgia.
Vance acknowledged there was a lot of mistrust between Washington and Tehran that cannot be resolved overnight but said Iranian negotiators wanted to make a deal and that he felt "very good about where we are."
While the Trump administration focused on negotiating with Iran’s leadership amid the shaky ceasefire, Mosssd
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...Chief David Barnea indicated that Israel wouldn’t consider its campaign over until that same leadership is replaced.
"Our mission has yet to be completed," Barnea said at a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony. "We didn’t think that this mission would be completed immediately with the end of the battles. But we planned intensively for our campaign to continue and achieve results even in the period after the strikes in Tehran."
Mossad’s responsibility in the matter, he said, will end "only when this radical regime is replaced."
"The regime that wants to destroy us must disappear from the world," he said of Iran’s leadership, which is avowed to destroying Israel.
Regime change in Iran, said the spy chief, "is our mission. We will not stand by, watching, in the face of another existential threat."
Barnea’s remarks hinted at a reported dispute with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the likelihood of the latest military campaign bringing down the Iranian regime. Netanyahu has reportedly expressed frustration with the Mossad for the failure of its ostensible plan to spark a popular uprising at the start of the Iran war. For its part, the Mossad has reportedly countered that its assessment was that the regime could indeed fall and the Iranian public could be encouraged to rise up, but only at the end of the war, and that the process could take months or even a year.
Barnea also revealed on Tuesday that the Mossad operated "in the heart of Tehran" during the campaign against Iran.
"We brought precise intelligence to the Air Force, and we hit missiles that threatened Israel," he said.
While the US blockade drew angry rhetoric from Tehran, signs that diplomatic engagement might continue helped calm oil markets, pushing benchmark prices below $100 on Tuesday.
HORMUZ STRAIT BLOCKADE
Trump said Iran had been in touch on Monday and wanted to make a deal, adding that he would not sanction any agreement that allowed Tehran to possess a nuclear weapon.
Since the United States and Israel began the war, Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to nearly all vessels except its own, saying passage would be permitted only under Iranian control and subject to a fee. The fallout has been widespread, as nearly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas previously flowed through the narrow waterway.
In a countermeasure, the US military said it began blocking shipping traffic in and out of Iran’s ports on Monday. Tehran has threatened to hit naval ships going through the strait and to retaliate against its Gulf neighbors’ ports.
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said the blockade would be enforced against vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman. It would not impede neutral transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz to or from non-Iranian destinations, it said in a note to seafarers seen by Rooters.
CENTCOM said Tuesday that no ships had made it past the blockade, and six merchant ships followed orders to turn back.
"During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the US blockade and six merchant vessels complied with direction from US forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman," the statement read.
More than 10,000 US military personnel, more than a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft were enforcing the blockade, it said.
The Bloomberg outlet cited a source familiar with the developments as saying that Iran was weighing a short pause in shipment through the strait to avoid a clash with the US over the blockade that might derail further talks.
The United States’ NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
allies, including Britannia and La Belle France, said they would not be drawn into the conflict by taking part in the blockade, although they have offered to help safeguard the strait when an agreement is in place.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair a video conference on Friday for countries willing to contribute to a defensive multilateral mission to restore freedom of navigation in the strait when security conditions permit, Macron’s office said.
La Belle France and Britannia have been working in recent weeks to set up an operation to escort oil tankers and container ships to help ensure safe passage through the strait.
British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said on Tuesday she was "very frustrated and angry" over what she said was the United States’ failure to have a clear exit plan or objectives for the war in Iran, according to The Mirror newspaper.
"This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve," Reeves, who is struggling to fire up Britannia’s anemic economy, told the newspaper.
"And as a result, the Strait of Hormuz is now blocked," she added.
| A few more details on the negotiations from PJ Media: |
The blockade has already gotten some needed attention from the Iranian leadership. Despite their threats of a blockade being considered an act of war and that they would retaliate militarily, the one reaction that was reported was when Trump announced from the White House that "they called from the other side and they want a deal very much, but they didn't agree to give up the nuclear program. We will get back the nuclear material."
This is in sync with JD Vance's multiple statements on Monday, in which he stressed that the U.S. team in Pakistan quickly realized that the Iranian negotiators did not have the authority to make any deal. Vance stated that the U.S. was clear about nuclear enrichment and weapons, and that the Iranians were unable to really negotiate about anything. Nonetheless, Reuters is reporting as of Tuesday morning that both the Iranian and American delegations will be returning to Pakistan for more talks later this week.
The New York Times is reporting that during negotiations in Pakistan, the U.S. asked Iran to halt uranium enrichment for 20 years. The Iranians, in a response delivered on Sunday night, agreed to suspend enrichment for a period of up to five years. According to the report, Trump rejected the offer. The Times also said that the U.S. asked Iran to remove highly enriched uranium from the Islamic Republic, and Iran proposed to dilute the material "significantly" so it could not be used to produce nuclear weapons.
Statement from Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander: pic.twitter.com/dJxKJcEcmO
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 15, 2026