Trump says Iran's terms "not good enough" for ceasefire deal, Tehran outlines conditions for ending conflict

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he's not ready to make a deal to end the military campaign against Iran "because the terms aren't good enough yet."

"Iran wants to make a deal, and I don't want to make it because the terms aren't good enough yet," he said of ending the war against Iran in an interview with NBC News, adding that any terms will have to be "very solid."

Trump, though declining to tell what his terms would be, said that a commitment from Iran to completely abandon any nuclear ambitions would be part of those terms for a ceasefire.

His remarks came two weeks after the United States and Israel started massive attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, which are disrupting global shipping, sending oil prices soaring and shaking the global economy.

Trump said that the strikes have greatly weakened Iran's military capabilities, noting that the U.S. military has destroyed most of Iran's missiles, drones and relevant production facilities, and that the relevant capabilities will be completely destroyed within two days.

Trump also confirmed that U.S. forces had carried out heavy strikes on Kharg Island, Iran's principal oil export terminal, while deliberately sparing its oil facilities to avoid reconstruction, which would take years.

Kharg Island lies in the Persian Gulf about 25 km off Iran's coast and accounts for about 90 percent of Iran's crude exports.

The U.S. forces "successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island" on Friday night, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday in a post on X. The strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites, the post said.

As the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict entered its 15th day Saturday, senior Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei outlined Tehran's conditions for ending the conflict, demanding full compensation for damage and a complete U.S. military withdrawal from the Gulf.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that "the global and regional struggle against Iran is escalating" and that Israel is entering the final decisive phase, vowing it "will last as long as necessary."

Since Israel and the United States launched the large-scale military operations against Iran two weeks ago, the Israeli military has carried out more than 7,600 air strikes on Iranian territory.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Saturday it had conducted the 51st round of Operation True Promise-4 with the launch of missiles towards the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Trump says Iran's terms "not good enough" for ceasefire deal, Tehran outlines conditions for ending conflict

Europe is facing mounting economic pressure as tensions in the Middle East escalate, causing significant fluctuations in global energy markets, a European energy expert has said.

The region's heavy reliance on energy imports has left it vulnerable to soaring oil and gas prices, raising concerns over inflation and economic stability, said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues.

"This is putting very tough pressure on the European gas markets. Also, we see rising cost of the gasoline at the pump. So, higher energy costs, which will again have huge impact on the European citizens and which risk to ignite an inflation spiral where all prices rise as a consequence of the rising energy prices," said Tagliapietra, who specializes in EU climate, energy and industrial policy.

Despite Europe's substantial imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, the expert cautioned, U.S. supply remains unstable, which further complicates Europe's energy security outlook.

"Given the volatility in the decisions of the Trump administration and given the trade war that the Trump administration has started against all other countries including the European Union in the past year, we are also very much attentive at any possible attempt by the U.S. administration to limit the exports of this LNG. We do not see this as an imminent risk, but this is something that Europe certainly needs to watch out with great degree of care in the coming months and weeks," he said.

Tagliapietra agrees that Europe must accelerate its energy transition to reduce dependency on single import sources and fossil fuels.

"There is nothing that Europe can do to decouple itself from this vulnerability of fossil fuel dependency, then accelerating the deployment of solar and wind energy sources in Europe. And we need to continue to do a lot of efforts amid this new energy crisis," said Tagliapietra.

Rising tensions in Middle East trigger energy market volatility in Europe: expert