U.S. President Donald Trump told G7 leaders during a virtual meeting this week that Iran is “about to surrender,” according to a report by Axios citing three officials from G7 countries briefed on the call.

During the discussion on Wednesday morning, Trump reportedly told allies he had “got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all,” while highlighting the results of the U.S. military operation known as “Epic Fury.”

According to Axios, Trump also said the situation inside Iran had become so unstable that it was unclear who could formally declare a surrender.

“Nobody knows who is the leader, so there is no one that can announce surrender,” Trump said during the call, the report added.

The comments come as the war in the Middle East approaches its second week, with both sides continuing to exchange drone and missile strikes across the region.

Trump struck an aggressive tone again on Friday, referring to Iran’s leadership as “deranged scumbags” and saying it was his “great honor” to kill them.

Meanwhile, domestic pressure on the administration increased following the loss of a U.S. military aircraft in the region.

U.S. Central Command said a KC-135 refueling aircraft went down in western Iraq at around 2 p.m. Eastern Time on March 12. Four of the six crew members on board have been confirmed dead, while rescue efforts are ongoing.

“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” Central Command said in a statement posted on social media, adding that the loss of the aircraft was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.

While Iran may be losing in a conventional military sense — something President Donald Trump continues to emphasize — Tehran’s strategy of disrupting the global economy by threatening the Strait of Hormuz and pushing oil prices higher is proving highly effective. Analysts warn that there is no clear military solution to reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

"This is the dilemma facing stocks – while Trump might be looking for an offramp, he is not fully in control of the conflict," Vital Knowledge analyst Adam Crisafulli said in a morning note on Friday.

"The silver lining on Iran is that both sides are holding back, providing room for compromise (or on a darker note, runway for escalation) – the US/Israel have not targeted Iran’s oil infrastructure in a meaningful way (and Iran is still exporting oil from Hormuz) while Iran’s proxy, the Houthis in Yemen, have stayed on the sidelines."