Trump Says War With Iran Will End Around the Midterm Elections

A ministerial-level meeting among Iran, Iraq, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was postponed just as it was about to reach an agreement. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X (formerly Twitter) on the 13th (local time), "The meeting, which was scheduled for tomorrow to reach an agreement, has been postponed," adding, "We will continue to pursue dialogue that supports regional stability and cooperation." The meeting was to be held in Salalah, Oman, to address security issues in the Strait of Hormuz, the Middle East's largest gateway—a narrow sea passage leading into the Persian Gulf through which a substantial share of the world's oil shipments pass. According to foreign media, the postponement was decided jointly by the Iranian and Omani governments.

U.S. President Donald Trump directly addressed when the war with Iran would end. Meeting reporters at his Doonbeg golf course in Ireland on the 13th (local time), Trump said the war would end "right after the midterm elections, or perhaps even before." He said, "Iran desperately wants to negotiate and keeps calling us," adding, "We won't make a useless deal." He explained that the U.S. would withdraw from Iran unless it adopted an approach like its presence in Venezuela to secure oil.

The Korea Petroleum Association said on the 14th that, six months after the implementation of the oil price cap, the domestic supply of petroleum products has remained stable despite the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the prolonged war in the Middle East. The association assessed that "problems with crude oil supply disruptions were resolved preemptively thanks to the government's active support for crude oil procurement and the effect of the oil reserve swap program." The government introduced the oil price cap on March 13 to curb petroleum product prices that had surged in the wake of the Middle East war—the first such measure in 30 years since oil price deregulation in 1997.