WASHINGTON, 08 May. - (ANA) - US President Donald Trump went on an early morning Truth Social posting spree including AI-generated images that suggested using lasers to win the Iran war, and details of his upcoming birthday plans.

 

In posts made at around 5.30 a.m. Friday, the president appeared to defend the war as well as describing his 80th birthday on June 14 as the “biggest ever.”

 

“Lasers: Bing, Bing, GONE!!!” read one post, featuring an image of an American battleship taking down a plane marked with an Iranian flag using a laser beam.

 

Another AI-generated image depicted Trump with UFC president Dana White on the White House lawn in front of a military guard firing weapons, and a flyover of military jets. “June 14th. Biggest ever!!! DJT,” the president captioned that image.

 

The UFC will put on an unprecedented event at the White House next month, organizing a series of fights to celebrate 250 years of the United States and the president's 80th birthday. Trump says he expects more than 4,000 people at the White House event and a further 85,000 spectators at The Ellipse park nearby.

 

In a separate Truth Social post Trump described the ongoing conflict in Iran as an “excursion” and compared it to the lengths of other U.S. conflicts including the Vietnam War and World War II. The U.S. strikes on Iran, named Operation Epic Fury, began February 28.

 

Iranian authorities claimed Friday that they had seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, amid speculation of an imminent ceasefire deal.

 

Footage shared by Iranian state-media channels showed soldiers boarding the Ocean Koi oil tanker, a Barbados-flagged vessel carrying Iranian oil, and raising the flag of the Islamic Republic on the ship’s mast.

 

The army said the ship was “trying to harm and disrupt oil exports...by exploiting regional conditions”, without giving further explanation, and that it was taken to the southern coast of Iran and handed over to the judicial authorities.

 

Trump also claimed the economy was at an "all time high" and that the price of oil is lower than during the presidency of Joe Biden, who he referred to again as “sleepy Joe.”

 

Trump’s war with Iran has in fact sent gas prices soaring and pushed inflation up from 2.4 percent in February to 3.3 percent in March. Recent polling revealed that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.   - (ANA) - 

 

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