Trump Says Iran War Is 'Ending Quickly,' Calls It Necessary to Block a Nuclear Weapon

President Donald Trump said Monday that the war against Iran was necessary to stop the Middle Eastern country from developing a nuclear weapon, adding a blunt three-word update: it's ending quickly.

In a Truth Social post the same day, Trump said the Gulf Cooperation Council members would prefer to keep the status quo — what he called the continuation of the Greatest Naval Blockade in History and the new Operation Iron Gate, by land and sea. Still, he said Washington is seeing positive momentum toward ending the conflict and promised America's interests would be protected throughout, arguing the whole world comes out safer once the fighting stops.

Trump also weighed in on the diplomatic choreography around next week's APEC summit, where he, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to meet. According to The Wall Street Journal, Beijing wants a tightly controlled format with prepared remarks and little open discussion, while Washington is pushing for more back-and-forth between the three leaders.

Separately, Trump joked that UFC CEO Dana White would probably enjoy the White House press secretary job and would be fantastic at it — a suggestion he'd floated over the weekend, along with naming several UFC fighters as White's assistants. The only downside, Trump said, is that White would talk to reporters for a while and then beat the hell out of them. He added: I didn't say no.

The Iran remarks came with a promise of more to follow.