Trump says ‘a real end’ better than a ceasefire between Iran and Israel
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while flying aboard Air Force One en route from Calgary, Canada to Joint Base Andrews. AP
DUBAI/JERUSALEM (Web Desk): US President Donald Trump said he wanted a "real end" to the nuclear dispute with Iran as the Israel-Iran air war raged for a fifth day.

The president also indicated he may send senior American officials to meet with the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said meanwhile that Iran s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the same fate as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion and eventually hanged after a trial.

"I warn the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and fire missiles at Israeli citizens," Katz told top Israeli military officials. Shortly after, Iran s state media reported an explosion was heard in Tehran.

Speaking to reporters after his departure from Canada, where he attended the Group of Seven nations summit on Monday, Trump predicted that Israel would not be easing its attacks on Iran.

"You re going to find out over the next two days. You re going to find out. Nobody s slowed up so far," he said.

Trump said he might send U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet with Iran.

Washington has said Trump is still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran, even as the military confrontation unfolds.

Trump, who left the summit early due to the Middle East situation, said his departure had "nothing to do with" working on a deal between Israel and Iran after French President Emmanuel Macron said the U.S. had initiated a ceasefire proposal.

Something "much bigger" than that was expected, he said on his Truth Social platform late on Monday.

Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.

Read more: Trump urges Tehran evacuation as Iran-Israel conflict enters fifth day

One of those sources, who regularly attends meetings with Khamenei, described the risk of miscalculation to Iran on issues of defence and internal stability as "extremely dangerous".

REGIONAL INFLUENCE WEAKENS

Israel s military said Iran s military leadership is "on the run" and that it had killed Iran s wartime chief of staff Ali Shadmani overnight four days into his job after replacing another top commander killed in the strikes.

Khamenei, who was imprisoned before the 1979 revolution and maimed by a bomb attack before becoming leader in 1989, is profoundly committed to maintaining Iran s Islamic system of government and is deeply mistrustful of the West.

Ever since the Tehran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 and triggered the Gaza war, Khamenei s regional influence has been weakening as Israel has pounded Iran s proxies - from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq. And Iran s close ally, Syria s autocratic president Bashar al-Assad, has been ousted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that he will not back down until Iran s nuclear development is disabled.

Before Israel launched its biggest attack ever on Iran, the U.N. s nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.

Katz said the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordow, where an enrichment site is dug into a mountain, is an issue that will "of course" be addressed.

The IAEA said on Tuesday it has identified additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at the Natanz facility, and that there was no change to report at the Fordow and Isfahan sites.

Iran s Revolutionary Guards said they had hit Israel s Military Intelligence Directorate and spy agency Mossad s operational centre early on Tuesday. There was no Israeli confirmation of such attacks.