Live The Latest: Trump claims Iran wants a ceasefire, Iran says remarks are ‘false and baseless’

Key Points:

• U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Iran’s president sought a ceasefire before his speech, a statement rejected by Iran’s Foreign Ministry as false, amid escalating military actions including deployment of the USS George H.W. Bush and 82nd Airborne troops to the Middle East.
• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized the U.S. war efforts, accusing America of acting as a proxy for Israel and urging Americans to question the war’s benefits, while warning the world faces a choice between confrontation and diplomacy.
• The International Rescue Committee highlighted a humanitarian crisis with aid trapped in Dubai due to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil and fertilizer shipments, exacerbating food security concerns.
• Amid rising global tensions, China expressed willingness to collaborate with Pakistan to deescalate the conflict, and Bahrain pushed for a UN resolution to protect maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, though opposition from Russia, China, and France stalled progress.
• Trump signaled a potential U.S. withdrawal from the Iran conflict soon but indicated possible "spot hits" in the future, while also threatening to reconsider U.S. NATO membership due to allied reluctance to support the war, stirring bipartisan defense of NATO in Congress.