Iran-US war latest: Trump ‘not satisfied’ with Tehran offer and now says ‘maybe we’re better off not making a deal’ – UK Times

Donald Trump has likened the US military to “pirates” while describing the seizure of an Iranian cargo ship that tried to bypass the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

“We took over the cargo. Took over the oil, a very profitable business. Who would have thought we were doing that were like pirates,” Trump said. “We’re sort of like pirates. But we’re not playing games.”

US president Donald Trump told a crowd in Florida that Iran was the “only country” where no one wanted to be the leader.

“The only country in the world no nobody wants to be a leader. You know, they say, they say, ‘would anybody like to be president?’ And there are no takers,” Trump said.

Iran does have a president. Masoud Pezeshkian has led the nation since his election in 2024.

The US president later said the US military had eliminated multiple “tiers” of Iran’s leadership, leaving him unsure as to who to negotiate with.

“That’s the problem because we are trying to figure out the right one to talk to,” Trump said.

On Friday, president Donald Trump told a crowd in Florida that “you cannot give Iran a nuclear weapon,” insisting that Tehran would immediately use it against Israel and others.

“They would use it on a place called Israel very quickly, and they would use it in the Middle East, and they’d use it in Europe. And I guess we’d be next,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s only official alcohol shop has run short of supplies ranging from beer and wine to tequila, ⁠as the disruption caused by the Iran war has delayed shipments, visitors to the store said.

Situated in Riyadh’s diplomatic district, the shop, which has no name and no sign, opened in 2024 to serve non-Muslim diplomats and last year expanded to cater for wealthy non-Muslim foreign ⁠residents.

Officially Saudi Arabia’s 1952 blanket ban on ​alcohol remains ⁠in place, but the ultra-conservative kingdom has allowed one licensed shop as it tries to lure more expatriates.

For now, however, the shelves are mostly ⁠bare, with only expensive or little-known brands on offer, five people who have visited ​the ⁠Riyadh shop in recent days said.

One ‌Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no white wine and “only a few bottles of super expensive red”.

“They also got a shipment of ‌random beer,” the diplomat added.

President Donald Trump, speaking at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches in Florida, said he was dealing with “brutal” people in the “lovely country of Iran”.

He then joked that the Iranians could not find anyone to be their president following US attacks on the nation.

President Donald Trump complained on Friday that the US received “zero” help from Nato for the war in Iran.

“We got no help from Nato. We got no help – zero – from Nato. You know, we spend trillions of dollars on Nato, and we got no help,” he said.

Trump made the comments during his visit to The Villages in Florida on Friday.

“We didn’t need it,” Trump said. “But we got none.”

He made the comment on the same day the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered 5,000 US troops to leave US bases in Germany.

President Donald Trump told a group of his supporters on Friday that saying the US is losing the war with Iran is “treasonous.”

Trump made the comment during a rally at The Villages in Florida.

“We get the radical left to say, ‘We’re not winning, we’re not winning.’ They don’t have any military left. It’s unbelievable. It’s actually, it’s actually, I believe it’s treasonous, okay. You want to know the truth – it’s treasonous,” Trump said.

China’s UN ​ambassador Fu Cong said on Friday it was an urgent necessity to maintain the Iran war ceasefire and that he was sure the Strait of Hormuz issue ⁠would be high on the agenda if it is still closed when US president Donald Trump goes to China this month.

Fu told reporters at the United Nations the strait needed to be reopened as quickly ⁠as possible. He said China ​was ⁠very concerned about remarks it had heard recently about the ceasefire being temporary and the need to initiate another ⁠round of attacks.

“Iran needs to lift its restrictions on the Strait ​of Hormuz, ⁠and the US needs ‌to lift its naval blockade,” he said.

“The most urgent issue is to keep the ceasefire. And the ceasefire needs to ‌last, and there has to be ‌a good-faith negotiation between the two sides,” he said.

“I think the international community should be mobilized and raise our voices against the resumption of fighting.”

Asked about ⁠president Donald Trump’s visit to China scheduled for this month, he said: “I’m sure if Hormuz is still closed by the time president Trump goes to China, this issue will be high on the agenda of the bilateral talks.”

Fu also rejected allegations from some US officials about military cooperation between China and Iran ‌as “false.”

Fu was briefing at the start of the month-long ​Chinese presidency of the UN security council and said ‌Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi ⁠will chair a session of the council on 26 May.

The US state department did not respond immediately when asked if there were ‌plans for US secretary of state Marco Rubio to ‌meet Wang while he was ​in the US.

⁠US president Donald Trump ⁠on ​Friday ⁠said ⁠the United ​States ⁠would ‌not exit its confrontation ‌with Iran ‌early “and ⁠then have the problem arise in three more ‌years”.

• US president Donald Trump has said that he is “not satisfied’ with the deals presented to him by Iran and questioned if ‘maybe we’re better off not making a deal’ with Tehran.
• Pentagon officials estimate the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has cost Iran $4.8bn in lost oil revenue.
• China’s top envoy to the UN has said it is an urgent necessity to maintain the Iran ceasefire and that he is sure the Strait of Hormuz issue ⁠will be high on the agenda if it is still closed when Trump visits Beijing this month.
• Trump has once again complained that the US has received “zero” help from Nato for the war in Iran.