Dubai, Apr 1 (AP) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed Iran’s president wanted a ceasefire ahead of his speech to the American people.

Trump made the claim on his Truth Social website. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Trump’s remarks were “false and baseless.” The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush is slated to go to the Middle East along with three destroyers, two US officials said.

The carrier strike group consists of more than 6,000 sailors. It comes as thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have also begun arriving in the Middle East, according to two other US officials.

Meanwhile, US gas prices jumped past an average of USD 4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prices higher worldwide. Analysts say those high fuel costs will trickle into groceries as businesses’ transportation and packaging costs pile up.

Here is the latest: as certain demands are met.

Trump says US could leave Iran soon but might come back to do ‘spot hits’ —————————————————————————————– The president told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of his televised address Wednesday night that the US would be finishing its war in Iran soon, but he wouldn’t give a timeline.

“I can’t tell you exactly … we’re going to be out pretty quickly,” he said.

But once the US leaves, he said “We’ll come back to do spot hits” on targets, as needed.

Saudi Arabia rerouted about 1 million barrels a day away from the Strait of Hormuz in March ————————————————————————————————————- Almost 4 million barrels of crude oil a day transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in March, up from about 3 million barrels the prior month and the highest level since October 2023, maritime data firm Kpler said Wednesday.

The increase came as Saudi Arabia sent crude through a pipeline across its country to the Red Sea port of Yanbu after the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Aramco operates the East-West pipeline from the Aqaiq oil processing center near the Persian Gulf to Yanbu.

It has enabled the Saudis to maintain some exports blocked by the Hormuz closure, but it lacks the capacity to fully compensate.

Before the war, Yanbu shipped 750,000 to 850,000 barrels a day. Of the crude passing through Bab el-Mandeb in March, 1.75 million barrels a day were loaded there, the data showed.

Most of the remainder transiting the strait in March was Russian oil bound for Asia, Kpler said.

Somalia and Tanzania announce fuel price hikes amid global supply disruptions ———————————————————————————————— Somalia’s government on Wednesday said it has limited control over fuel pricing, as imports are handled by private companies in a largely liberalised market.

Dahir Shire Mohamed, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, said prices have surged due to “external shocks,” linking the increase to “regional tensions affecting global supply routes.” The price per litre has increased from USD 0.70 to USD 1.75, marking a 150 per cent increase.

Tanzania’s Energy Ministry on Wednesday announced a 33 per cent increase in fuel prices, attributing it to the conflict in Iran, saying it had affected supply and shipping.

The ministry urged Tanzanians to use the available fuel “carefully and efficiently.” US gives mediators ‘clear assurances’ that Iranian FM, parliament speaker won’t be targeted ————————————————————————————————————– American officials have given mediators “clear assurances” that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf won’t be targeted amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to stop the Iran war, according to two regional officials and one person briefed on the matter.

The person briefed said that Pakistan asked Washington to intervene to get Israel to remove the two officials from its hit list.

Israel’s prime minister’s office and the military didn’t respond to request for comment.

The assurances were also given at the request of other regional mediators to facilitate communications with Iran and push for indirect talks, said one of the officials, who is involved in the mediation efforts.

All three spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.

A Gulf diplomat, briefed on the matter, said the US assurances were “crucial” to ensure neither the foreign minister or the speaker or their teams won’t be assassinated.

Reuters was the first to report that the two Iranian leaders were removed from a supposed hit list.

Trump, Finnish president talk about NATO, Iran ——————————————————– The two leaders spoke via phone in a “constructive” conversation, said Alexander Stubb, the Finnish leader.

“We exchanged thoughts on NATO, Ukraine, and Iran,” Stubb wrote in an X post. “It’s good to seek solutions to problems together.” The call comes as the US president is increasingly venting about allies and what he says is their unwillingness to get involved in the war in Iran, particularly in securing the Strait of Hormuz, prompting him to again talk about the US leaving NATO.

Israeli military denies targeting Syrian state television crew —————————————————————————– Syrian state television said Wednesday that its crew reporting in the Quneitra Province in southern Syria was targeted by the Israeli military, a claim the military later denied.

A video aired by the station showed a journalist in a press vest falling to the floor following what the person filming said was “a second shelling.” The Israeli military said the “journalists approached the scene only after the fire had been carried out and were not the target of the activity.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the military was targeting.

Bahrain circulates a new UN proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz without enforcement language ——————————————————————————————————————- A revised draft of Bahrain’s proposal — obtained by The Associated Press — to protect commercial shipping in and around the critical waterway has removed explicit authorisation for UN-backed military action while retaining language associated with it.

A vote on the new draft is expected Thursday, according to a UN diplomat who wasn’t authorised to comment about plans not yet made public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The diplomat said the watered-down language will still be a hard swallow for China and Russia but it’s expected to get the necessary votes to pass the 15-member council.

IOM estimates around 180,000 families displaced in Iran since war began —————————————————————————————— Around 180,000 Iranian families have been displaced due to the ongoing war, but it’s hard to determine an exact figure because Iran doesn’t have a displacement tracking level as found in other countries, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Amy Pope, IOM’s director general, told The Associated Press the agency expects that figure to increase as more civilian infrastructure gets caught in the crossfire.

Pope also warned about the impact on migrants working in Iran who might not be guaranteed the same safety that an Iranian family is seeking.

“This is the kind of hidden consequence of a conflict like this. There are people … who are not necessarily accounted for and … won’t have the support they need,” she said.

Iran holds a funeral for a Revolutionary Guard rear admiral ———————————————————————– Iran’s capital, Tehran, held a funeral Wednesday for an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.

State television showed live footage of mourners waving Iranian flags at a funeral for Rear. Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, the head of Revolutionary Guard’s navy. An Israeli airstrike killed Tangsiri last week, with Tehran only acknowledging his death Monday.

Another funeral had been held Tuesday in Bandar Abbas, a key port city on the Strait of Hormuz. (AP) GRS GRS