Trump says Iran war is “nearly over” as Pakistan pushes for new peace talks

US-sanctioned ships were seen entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, hours after a US military commander said the blockade of Iranian ports was “fully implemented.”

Vessel tracking data shows a number of vessels, including the crude oil tanker Alicia – making overnight trips. The Chinese-owned Alicia has called at Iranian ports.

The Alicia was seen changing course in the Gulf of Oman when the blockade began, but then continued overnight in the Strait of Hormuz, along with at least two other oil tankers.

Two Iranian-flagged ships, both under US sanctions, were also seen leaving the Persian Gulf on Tuesday and continued to sail near Iran’s southern coast on Wednesday.

A CBS News analysis of ship tracking data from earlier this week appeared to show dozens of other ships linked to Iran passing through the Strait of Hormuz in the hours after the US blockade of the waterway began on Monday.

The U.S. Navy said the blockade would apply to “all maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports,” but said it “will not restrict the freedom of navigation of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.”

Iranian state media said on Wednesday morning that a bulk carrier carrying food – along with an Iranian crude oil tanker – entered Iranian waters after passing through the Strait of Hormuz, despite the US blockade.

Iran’s Fars News Agency said a large ship capable of transporting 2 million barrels of oil has sailed through international waters and the Strait of Hormuz and its tracking system has been activated, “without hiding.”

President Trump called Britain’s King Charles “a wonderful man” ahead of his visit to the US later this month.

In an interview with the UK broadcaster, Sky News, Mr. Trump said he was looking forward to Charles’ “entire” visit.

“Just being with him. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s very nice. An amazing person,” said Mr. Trump.

But the president reiterated his dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, criticizing the British leader’s decision not to join the US-Israeli strikes against Iran.

When asked about the so-called “special relationship” between the US and the UK, Mr. Trump said “when we asked them. [the U.K.] for help [with the Iran war]they weren’t there. When we needed them, they weren’t there. When we didn’t need them, they weren’t there. And they still aren’t.”

Mr. Trump appeared to threaten a trade deal that had been negotiated between the US and the UK

“We gave them a good trade deal. Better than what I had to do. It can always be changed,” he said.

The president also renewed his criticism of the Starmer government’s policies on energy and immigration.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will meet her US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in Washington on Wednesday after expressing frustration over the economic fallout from the US-Israel war with Iran.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that the energy price shock from the war will hit the UK harder than any other advanced economy, although the IMF expects Britain to rebound next year and show faster economic growth than its G7 peers.

Before he left for the US, Reeves told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper that he was “frustrated and angry” about how the war would affect Britain’s economy.

“This is a war we didn’t start. It was a war we didn’t want,” Reeves said. “I feel frustrated and angry that the US entered this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear vision of what they were trying to achieve. And as a result, the Strait of Hormuz is now blocked.”

Reeves said he was overwhelmed by “the impact it has had on families and businesses in our country.”

“Obviously nobody in their right mind supports the Iranian regime, but to start a conflict without being clear about what the goals are and not being clear about how you’re going to get out of it, I think that’s stupid and that’s what affects families here in the UK, but also families in the US and around the world,” Reeves said. “I don’t think it was the right decision. But it was the right decision for Keir Starmer – our prime minister – to get us out of this conflict.”

Two Israeli strikes hit vehicles south of Beirut on Wednesday, state media reported, while Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel, hours later. Lebanon and Israel hold historic direct talks.

Israel continues its strikes in southern Lebanon in its war against Iran-backed Hezbollah but has not targeted the Lebanese capital since a series of attacks across the country on April 8 that killed more than 350 people.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported two separate Israeli strikes on two vehicles, one in the coastal town of Saadiyat and the other on the coastal highway in Jiyeh, 12 kilometers south of Beirut and outside Hezbollah strongholds.

The NNA also reported several other strikes in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it had received “about 30 incidents” of Hezbollah targeting Israel since early Wednesday, an AFP spokesman said.

Hezbollah said it launched rockets at 10 locations in northern Israel.

The attack comes a day after Israeli ambassadors and the Israeli ambassador to the United States held their first direct talks in decades in Washington and agreed to hold direct talks, with the Lebanese embassy calling for a ceasefire. Hezbollah strongly rejected the talks.

Israel’s offensive in Lebanon has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than a million people since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities.

In a series of posts on his Public Truth platform overnight, President Trump continued to disparage Pope Leo XIV and NATO.

In another post, he said: “Can someone tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent protesters, completely unarmed, in the last two months, and that Iran having a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable.”

The Pope has gone added the administration’s actions in Iranamong other things, and the president went excluded.

The administration says ending Tehran’s nuclear program is one of its key goals in the war with Iran. Human rights organizations claim that the Iranian regime has killed tens of thousands of people who were protesting against the Iranian regime earlier this year.

In another post, the president repeats his frequent criticism of the actions of other NATO nations during the war, saying, “NATO was not there for us, and it will not be there for us in the future!”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey this week in a bid to secure a new round of talks between the US and Iran, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The trip comes days after Islamabad hosted marathon talks last weekend that ended without a formal agreement.

Sharif is trying to instigate a second round before a fragile end-of-war deadline expires early next week. The Ministry said Sharif’s visit will start on Wednesday and end on Saturday.

President Trump told Fox News the war is “very close to the end,” and told the New York Post that a second round of talks with Iran “could happen in the next two days,” also in Islamabad.

Late Tuesday night, ABC News Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl said on social media that Mr. Trump “told me today that he doesn’t think about extending the ceasefire. He doesn’t think it will be necessary.”

Karl said the president told him, “I think you’re going to be watching something amazing in the next two days. I can really see it.”

CBS/AP

In a statement Tuesday night, US Central Command said the blockade of Iranian ports “has been fully implemented as the US military maintains maritime power in the Middle East.”

“An estimated 90% of Iran’s economy is fueled by international trade at sea,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. “In less than 36 hours since the blockade, the US military has completely stopped economic trade and entry and exit from Iran by sea.”

A US destroyer intercepted two oil tankers on Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, a US official confirmed to CBS News.

The official said the two ships were part of six merchant ships the US military told to return to Iran’s port in the Gulf of Oman in the first 24 hours of the blockade. Reuters was the first to report on the blockade.

At the same time, more than 20 other ships that were not leaving Iranian ports left safely in the crisis, said a US official.