Trump says he does not know if Iran is going to ‘give up yet’

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does ⁠not know if ⁠Iran is going to “give up yet” but cast the country as doing “very poorly” in its war with the US.

“I don’t know if they are going to give up yet but they’ll give up,” Trump told reporters.

“They are doing very poorly,” he added.

Trump claimed that the US had taken more oil out of the Strait of Hormuz over the past several days than “at any point in history.”

“You know, we took more oil out of the Hormuz Strait over the last couple of days than at any point in history,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

A US blockade has cut Iran’s financial lifeline – oil exports, and economic costs of the war have made life tougher for Iranians.

Iran’s president told ⁠the ⁠UN General Assembly last week that Tehran would never surrender to US pressure.

The rise in oil prices due to the war has also become a major issue for Trump’s Republican Party heading into the November US midterm elections.

The war has ⁠led to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global supplies of crude oil and LNG before the conflict.

Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the Iran war that began on ⁠February ‌28 ‌when the US and Israel attacked Iran ⁠and Tehran responded with ‌its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.

⁠US-Israeli strikes on Iran and ⁠Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands ⁠and displaced millions.

The US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic route for energy supplies.

Efforts to end the war have continued since a June memorandum aimed at reaching a final peace deal on navigation in the strategic waterway as well as Iran‘s nuclear program.

ANEWS wp:paragraph