Washington DC [US], March 26 (ANI): A Wall Street Journal report has suggested that US President Trump has told associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a protracted war in Iran and that he hopes to bring the conflict to an end in the coming weeks.

Citing people familiar with the matter, WSJ reported that Trump has privately informed advisors that he thinks the conflict is in its final stages, urging them to stick to the four-to-six-week timeline he has outlined publicly,

The deadline could likely be before the mid-May summit that US President Trump has lined up with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump on Thursday claimed to have stopped eight wars, and said they would repeat the feat in Iran, too. Trump, while delivering remarks at the NRCC Annual Fundraising Dinner, said that there has never been a head of a country who wanted that job less than being the head of Iran.

'We settled eight wars. We are winning another one. Nobody has seen anything like what we are doing in the Middle East with Iran. They are negotiating, by the way. They want to make a deal so badly, but they are afraid to say it because they figure they will be killed by their own people. They are also afraid they will be killed by us. There has never been a head of a country who wanted that job less than being the head of Iran,' he said.

US White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that US President Donald Trump does not bluff, and he would unleash hell, adding that Iran must not miscalculate anything about what Washington wants in West Asia.

Leavitt, while briefing the media, said that Trump prefers peace and postponed the strikes after Iran expressed its willingness to speak.

'President Trump's preference is always peace. However, following his powerful threat on Saturday evening, it was made clear that Iran wanted to talk. As the President announced on Monday, the US has been engaged over the last three days in productive conversations, leading the President to temporarily instruct the Department of War to postpone planned strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure,' she said.

'Let me be clear, Iran should not miscalculate again. Their last miscalculation cost them their senior leadership, their navy, their air force, and their air defence system. President Trump does not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell if they refuse to accept the reality that they have been defeated,' she added.

Earlier, Iran responded negatively to an American proposal aimed at ending the ongoing conflict, insisting that any cessation of hostilities will only occur on Tehran's 'own terms and timeline.

Iran said it would end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,' emphasising Tehran's resolve to continue its defence and inflict 'heavy blows' on the enemy until its demands are fulfilled. (ANI)