Trump says renewed attacks on Iran ‘highly unlikely’ if talks show progress

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that it is “highly unlikely” he will need to order the US back to war with Iran as long as there is progress in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, repeating his assertion five times during an interview with CNN.

“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump told CNN’s Jim Sciutto during a 20-minute phone interview, referring to Iran. “The answer is highly unlikely it’s going to be necessary. They’re a failing nation. It just came out, you saw this year, 301% inflation. Highly unlikely it will be necessary. I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don’t know how hard I hit them.”

“So it’s highly unlikely I’ll have to,” he continued. “They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off.”

‘We’re ready for it’

Eight months after the war started, the two sides have been in a stalemate, with little military action or significant diplomatic progress made while oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz have come under Iranian attack.

The two countries and officials from Qatar, which has mediated the talks, have kept quiet about the status of their negotiations. But Iranian hardliners have seized on the results of last week’s midterm elections — fueled in part by the war’s unpopularity with US voters — as a sign of a weakened Trump presidency that would be more willing to given in to their country’s demands to be allowed to continue its nuclear program, which it says it needs for energy, and maintain control of the strait.

Iran has also struggled to sell crude oil on global markets under US sanctions, while billions of dollars in assets held in foreign banks have been frozen.

Trump, who has in the past offered mixed messages about his willingness to end the war, made clear during the interview that US forces are in position in the region if he were to give the order to strike. “We’re ready for it. I’ve got three aircraft carriers here. The other one just arrived. We have three. They’re fully locked and loaded,” he said.

The president also said that the US has identified infrastructure targets inside Iran in the event of renewed military action, including power plants and bridges. “We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour, “ he said. “They’ll all be down.”

However, he said he would prefer not to destroy Iranian infrastructure. “I don’t want to do that because essentially, it’ll take 10 years to rebuild them,” he said. “I don’t like ripping down bridges. And the hardest thing to build is a bridge. It takes years, and I’m a good builder.”

Diplomatic activity across the Middle East has increased since Tuesday’s midterm elections.

On Friday, Qatar said that Trump had called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss de-escalation, and a day earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey, Cyprus and Qatar.

Depleted Iranian stockpiles

In terms of Iran’s ability to defend against new US strikes, Trump said Iran’s air defenses have been destroyed. “It’s unstoppable because they have no anti-aircraft stuff. All of their anti-aircraft is gone,” he said.

The president also provided new details on the state of Iranian missile and drone stockpiles, saying that the regime maintains 10% of its missile capacity and 15% of its drone capabilities.

“The only thing they can do is about 10% level — make some missiles and make some drones. Drones at about 15% because much of their factories are gone,” he said.

“Most likely it will not be necessary,” he repeated about the prospect of new military action. “They want to make a deal so badly.”

CNN’s Mostafa Salem contributed to this story.