Donald Trump has said the United States is “hopefully toward the end” of its war with Iran, claiming that Tehran wants to make a deal and that he has spoken with Iranian officials “directly”.
Trump made the comments on 17 September 2026 as diplomatic prospects remained uncertain. Iranian officials have said peace talks will not resume until all of their conditions are met. The officials have not publicly detailed those conditions in the information available.
A senior adviser to Trump told Euronews that the president is determined to end the Iran war soon. Trump’s account of Iran’s willingness to reach an agreement has not been confirmed by Iranian officials, and details of his claimed direct contact with Tehran remain unknown.
The president’s remarks came as a United Nations fact-finding mission to Iran prepared to submit a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe that US forces carried out two strikes in February that amounted to war crimes.
One strike hit a primary school in Minab, where more than 150 people were reportedly killed, including about 120 children. A second strike struck a sports centre in Lamerd, killing or injuring 22 civilians.
The mission said the school strike met the threshold for a war-crime finding because of the risk to a civilian site. “The US directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen,” it stated.
The findings place allegations against US forces before the Human Rights Council at the same time as Trump is presenting the conflict as nearing an end. It remains unknown whether the report will lead to further international legal action or investigation.
The UN mission’s report also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests. Its conclusions therefore address actions by both US forces and Iranian authorities during a period in which the two sides’ political and military confrontation has continued.
Trump’s assertion that Iran is seeking a deal points to a possible opening for negotiations. Iran’s public position, however, is that talks depend on conditions being met first. The gap between those accounts leaves the path towards a settlement unclear.
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