US President Donald Trump, on Saturday (March 28, 2026), said he wanted a legacy as a great “peacemaker”, claiming that he stopped eight wars globally, including the one between India and Pakistan in May 2025.
However, Trump just conveniently forgot to mention that he was responsible for inflicting the present West Asian war on Iran, which has unsettled not just the Gulf region, but also put the entire world’s energy security in trouble.
“I would love my legacy to be made as a great peacemaker because I really believe I am a peacemaker. It doesn’t seem like it right now, but I think I am a peacemaker,” Trump said.
At an event in Florida, Trump also said Iran should open the Strait of Hormuz for freedom of navigation if it wanted any peace agreement with the US, stressing that maritime access to oil shipments should be restored. Trump joked that the Strait of Hormuz must now be called the “Strait of Trump”.
“We’re negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up,” he said, reiterating his claim that he helped stop eight wars.
“I even stopped India and Pakistan, and they were going at it for a week.. Nine planes were already shot down. They were in a war. I stopped them. How did I stop them? I said, “If you keep fighting, I’m going to put a 250% tariff on each one,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump sent a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Gulf region, as USS George HW Bush left Norfolk in Virginia to the West Asian region for deployment amidst the ongoing war with Iran.
This Trump move, flying against his claims as a peacemaker, could ramp up the escalation ladder in the Gulf region, as two carrier strike groups led by USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln are already deployed there for the war.
Israel, on the other hand, continued its offensive against Iran, launching airstrikes on nuclear and weapons production sites. The Israeli Army said in a statement that over 50 air force fighter jets conducted coordinated airstrikes on Friday (March 27) on nuclear and defence infrastructure inside Iran.
The strikes were carried out in three waves over several hours, targeting key facilities associated with the nuclear programme in the cities of Arak and Yazd, as well as weapons production sites, it said.
Among the targets was the heavy water plant in Arak, which the Israeli Army described as a major site for producing plutonium used in nuclear weapons. It also struck a facility in Yazd that it claimed is used to produce explosive materials involved in the uranium enrichment process.
Israel also targeted a military industries facility used to manufacture various types of weapons, and a site affiliated with Iran’s Defence Ministry used to develop and produce advanced explosive devices.
Some of these sites supplied weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah, the statement said, claiming that one of the targets was a facility used to produce components for ballistic missiles and air defence systems.