End of US-Iran war? Trump has a message to ordinary Iranians

US President Donald Trump voiced sympathy for ordinary Iranians living under what he described as a repressive regime.

Trump highlighted the plight of Iranian civilians, noting their inability to resist the theocratic rulers and their fear of protesting due to the regime's firepower.

“My message to the Iranian people is they’re afraid because they have no guns, and the other side has guns, and they have a rally and they get shot,” Trump told a phone interview aired on Fox News' “Fox & Friends”. 

For the last 47 years since the 1979 Revolution, the regime has framed their actions — including the funding of proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria — as an act of “resistance” against the US "domination" in the region.

Since the start of US-Israel decapitation hits against regime targets on February 28, Iran has fired thousands of missiles and drones against its regional neighbours, including military, infrastructure and civilian targers such as airports, purportedly to "protect" Gulf neighbours against US influence.

Trump has alternated between threats of escalated strikes — including the seizure of Kharg island and its oil infrastructure — and pauses for negotiations.

Trump has raised expectations that, this time, he really will close a deal with Iran to wind down war.

"Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly," he added, mentioning Europe as a possible venue of inking the deal.

Claiming that talks with Iran had been "brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved," Trump said he had cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.

Trump's statements fuelled a stock market rally and tanked oil prices.

No final decision on deal: Tehran

On Friday, however, Tehran said it had not reached a final decision on a deal to end the war, despite Trump’s claim that an agreement could be signed "within days".

Trump, in his message to the Iranian people, added that he would prefer to avoid targeting infrastructure such as bridges, water supply or power facilities, which would cause broader suffering among the population. 

“I can do it in a minute, but I’d rather not do it because once you do that the people suffer," Trump told host Brian Kilmeade.

The US has conducted multiple rounds of strikes on Iranian military targets while keeping a naval blockade on Iran-linked ships, depriving the region of billions in oil revenues.

The US leader warns of further action if talks stall.

Iran has denied some accusations and retaliated in limited ways, while both sides have engaged in back-channel discussions.

Distinction between Iranian regime and people

Trump’s remarks underscore a distinction he has drawn between the Iranian government and its people, echoing earlier statements about potential regime change driven by internal unrest rather than direct US intervention on the ground.

Protests in Iran earlier this year were met with violent crackdowns, according to reports and the president's own prior observations.

Critics and some Iranian opposition voices have called for more direct support, such as arming civilians or targeting regime leadership and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, rather than infrastructure. 

Others have questioned the consistency of US messaging amid negotiations.

Trump also claimed that the US military conducted a covert operation to escort more than 200 commercial ships carrying crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz – valued between $7.8 billion and $9.0 billion – bypassing Iranian interference. 

Crude oil tankers transit Hormuz

Trump claimed that secret US operation moved over 100 million barrels of oil through the strait which Iran claims to have choked.

Trump claimed that after disabling Iranian radar capabilities, the US military supported tanker transits "late at night" with no lights for over a month. 

He specifically referenced one operation moving 22 ships and asserted the effort kept oil prices from surging dramatically higher — citing $85 per barrel instead of a potential $250. 

Independent verification of the scale described by Trump was not immediately available, and Pentagon and Department of Energy officials have not publicly confirmed the numbers.