US President Donald Trump said this evening (Wednesday) that, in his assessment, an agreement for the return of hostages and the end of the war is very close.
"I was just dealing with people from the Middle East... on the potential peace deal... it's something I think that will happen — got a good chance of happening," Trump said in a statement to the press.
He added: "I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually."
"Negotiations are going along very well," Trump said. "If that's the case, we'll be leaving probably on Sunday - maybe Saturday."
Later, while Trump was still speaking to the press, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio came over and handed him a note.
"I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we're very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they're going to need me pretty quickly," Trump stated.