A senior official in US President Donald Trump’s administration has told Axios he is the “most hawkish person in the top echelons” of his government.

Trump has warned that “a civilisation will die tonight” unless Iran makes a deal with the US to end the ongoing war.

“If the president sees a deal is coming together, he’ll probably hold off. But only he and he alone makes that decision,“ a senior administration official tells Axios, whose report is based on interviews with six officials and sources with “direct knowledge of the ongoing diplomacy or Trump’s thinking”.

“The president is the most bloodthirsty, like a mad dog,“ another US administration official has said, downplaying stories that War Secretary Pete Hegseth or Secretary of State Marco Rubio were pushing Trump.

“Those guys sound like the doves compared to the president.”

Read more here.