Trump: We are winning the war in Iran very handily

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - President Donald Trump declared on Friday that the United States is winning the war with Iran very handily, that the conflict will end soon, that gas prices will drop to pre-war levels or even lower when it does, and that the Houthis are in talks with Washington to explore a possible agreement, in remarks to NewsNation that offered the most comprehensive and optimistic American assessment of the war's trajectory since it began seven months ago.

"We are winning the war in Iran very handily," Trump said, in his most direct single-sentence characterization of the military balance yet. He connected the war's end directly to economic relief for American consumers. "The war's going to end soon, and when it ends, your gas prices are going to drop to a level before, maybe even lower," he said, acknowledging the direct link between the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb disruptions and the elevated fuel costs that have pushed diesel above $6 a gallon and kept Brent crude above $100 a barrel throughout the conflict's most intense phase.

On Iran's nuclear programme, Trump framed the issue as one of overwhelming public consensus. "If they had a vote on lower gas prices or letting Iran have a nuclear weapon, it would be a massive landslide," he said. "People don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon." He reiterated that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon and that achieving this requires the American nation to bear some burdens in the short term.

On the Houthis, Trump confirmed that talks are underway. "We are talking to the Houthis, and they want to know whether we can reach an agreement," he said, the first public confirmation from Washington of direct or indirect communications with the Iran-backed Yemeni group that has seized Mocha and Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and struck Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline.

On China, Trump disclosed an agreement with President Xi Jinping and expressed confidence about their upcoming meeting. "I have an agreement with the President of China and the meeting next week will be very great," he said, a statement that carries potential implications for the US-China tensions that have emerged throughout the Iran conflict over Beijing's refusal to join the G20 anti-Iran financial statement and the Justice Department's disclosure that Iran laundered $1.5 billion through a Chinese cryptocurrency network.

On Europe and Ukraine, Trump said Russia has already attacked Ukrainian allies and has been doing so for approximately five years, adding that everyone agrees with that assessment. The remark comes as Witkoff and Kushner concluded their Moscow visit on September 5 and as Ukraine and Russia continue to exchange drone and missile strikes, with a Russian drone striking a Ukrainian border train station minutes after Boris Johnson departed the site last week.

On US midterm elections scheduled for November 2026, Trump said results will be close, adding that blocked media outlets have spread numerous false reports and expressing frustration with what he described as dishonest coverage.

Trump's declaration that the US is winning very handily and that the war will end soon arrives as the diplomatic and military landscape shows the first signs of movement in weeks. Satellite imagery confirmed on September 14 that VLCC supertankers are now transiting Hormuz in both directions in daylight. CENTCOM confirmed that zero ships have passed the naval blockade without US authorization in 60 days. Iran's Foreign Minister has said Tehran will immediately reciprocate if the US returns to its June 17 MOU commitments. And the planned Iran-Gulf coastal states meeting in Oman, postponed on September 13, is expected to be rescheduled. The convergence of Trump's confident war assessment, the Xi meeting next week, and Houthi talks suggests the conflict's endgame diplomacy is accelerating on multiple tracks simultaneously.