“President Trump on Wednesday defended his agreement to end the Iran war, saying he wanted to avoid an ‘economic catastrophe’ that could have resulted if the conflict the U.S. launched had continued,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Trump said he was influenced by the stock market’s rise as he worked toward a resolution of the conflict. He said he didn’t want to be compared with former President Herbert Hoover, who was president during the 1929 market crash that led to the Great Depression.”

Said Trump: “He was always the one I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to see an economic catastrophe.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence said that he believes the current version of President Trump’s peace deal with Iran is “much bigger than a mistake,” calling it a “deeply ill-advised” act of “appeasement,” The Wrap reports.

President Trump joked on Wednesday that he will blame Vice President Vance if the preliminary deal with Iran falls through, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here.”

“Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on Wednesday slammed the deal between the Trump administration and Iran, two days before the two sides are set to sign it,” The Hill reports.

Said Cassidy: “The details that I’ve seen so far look … awful. This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder.”

“European Council President Antonio Costa has made contact with the Kremlin in an effort to engage Russian President Vladimir Putin in discussions about how to end the war in Ukraine,” Bloomberg reports.

“President Donald Trump lauded Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that Washington and New Delhi were ‘very close’ to finalizing a long-awaited trade agreement,” Bloomberg reports.

Said Trump: “We’ve been there for a little while and he’s a very tough negotiator, one of the toughest, actually.”

“Supporters of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham expect senior members of Keir Starmer’s cabinet to tell the UK prime minister to agree a handover of power in the coming days, in an attempt to make it impossible for him to continue in post,” Bloomberg reports.

“Burnham is standing in a special election on Thursday that he’s expected to win, which would give him the Parliamentary seat he needs to bid for Starmer’s job. But Burnham would rather not directly launch a leadership challenge immediately after the by-election.”

“President Trump insisted on Wednesday that the United States was not in effect paying Iran to agree to the recently negotiated peace agreement, and he angrily proclaimed that his deal was better than the one former President Barack Obama signed with Tehran in 2015,” the New York Times reports.

“Speaking to journalists on his last day at the Group of 7 summit in France, Mr. Trump denied reports that the preliminary deal, the contents of which have yet to be released, included any U.S. investment in a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran or any immediate sanctions relief.”