Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.

President Trump told Republican lawmakers today that the war in the Middle East won't last much longer.

We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil.

And I think you'll see it's going to be a short-term excursion.

His comments come after oil and gas prices fluctuated wildly in recent days,

sending financial markets reeling because of the conflict. Today, the price of oil whipped from

nearly $120 a barrel, the highest since 2022, back down to back down below $90. Meanwhile,

Iran is signaling that it's prepared for a long war with the U.S. and its allies as the

conflict stretches into a 10th day. Kamal Karazi, a foreign policy advisor to the office of Iran's

supreme leader, told CNN that the country is ruling out diplomacy for now.

I don't see any room for diplomacy anymore because Donald Trump has been deceiving others and

not keeping with his promises.

And we experienced it in two times of negotiations that while we were engaged in negotiation,

they struck us.

Karazi says Gulf, Arab countries and other U.S. allies need to pressure the U.S.

into ending the war.

President Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss the war

and wrong, among other issues.

The exchange was the two leaders' first known conversation this year, as NPRs at Charles

Mainz reports from Moscow.

According to Kremlin aide Uriushikov, the phone call was initiated by Trump, who spoke

with Putin for roughly an hour.

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