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US President Donald Trump yesterday defended his interim agreement with Iran, saying it had averted a global economic catastrophe, while warning he could launch fresh attacks if Tehran failed to honour its commitments.

Speaking at the close of a G7 summit in France, Trump also said maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz had risen sharply since the truce was announced three days ago and expressed hope it could mark the start of a wider peace across the Middle East.

“We’re going to bomb the hell out of them [Iran] if they violate the agreement. I don’t want them to. I want them to honour the agreement,” Trump told a press conference, adding that the Iranians were “smart people”.

He later said he expected the accord with Iran to end the Middle East war “maybe signed

tomorrow (Thursday), maybe the next day (Friday)”.

“We are going to most likely sign a deal,” he added.

The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and spiraled into a broader regional conflict, has driven up energy prices, renewed inflationary pressures and sparked concerns about a major food supply crisis in developing countries.

“So the one thing I didn’t want to see is, I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened,” Trump said. He thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for being “neutral” during the conflict, saying they had not thwarted his efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Oil prices fell again on Wednesday on prospects for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with Brent crude futuresLCOc1 below $80, The

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