Trump Tells Maria Bartiromo the War Is ‘Close To Over’

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo said President Donald Trump told her the U.S. war with Iran is “over.”

However, video of their exchange showed that it is not quite the case.

The U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, ostensibly to target Iran’s nuclear program, which Trump claimed last year was “totally obliterated” in U.S. airstrikes. Last Tuesday, the president announced a two-week ceasefire. Confusion ensued almost as soon as the deal was announced. Iran and the Pakistani mediator said the agreement included a cessation of Israeli hostilities in Lebanon. However, the U.S. disputed this, even though CBS News reported that Trump had been informed that Lebanon was included. As a result of Israel’s continued offensive, Iran continued restricting travel through the strait.

This week, Trump announced that the U.S. Navy would prohibit certain vessels from going through the strait.

On Tuesday, Bartiromo teased an upcoming interview with the president on Wednesday’s Mornings with Maria.

“I just left the president,” Bartiromo said in a video posted on X after she left the White House. “It was a great interview. He said a lot about the economy, about the Iran war, about NATO.”

Bartiromo then revealed that Trump talked to her about the war in the past tense.

“One thing that I’ll leave you with,” she added. “I said to him, ‘Mr. President, you keep talking about the war like, was, was, was.’ I said, ‘Is it over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.'”

Video of their exchange tells a different story, however.

“Well, you keep saying ‘was,'” Bartiromo said to Trump. “Is this war over?”

“I think it’s close to over, yeah,” the president replied. “I view it as very close to over. You know what? 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 wanna make a deal very badly.”

The war has been unpopular among the public since the beginning. Only 24% of Americans think the Iran war has been worth it, according to an Ipsos/Reuters poll. released on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, 51% of the public thinks the war has not.

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