WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told CNN on Sunday that it is “highly unlikely” he will need to order the United States back to war with Iran, as long as negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz show progress.
“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump told CNN’s Jim Sciutto during a 20-minute phone interview. “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.”
Trump repeated the point five times in the interview, CNN reported. “So it’s highly unlikely I’ll have to,” he said. “They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off.”
Forces in place
The president said U.S. forces are in position in the region if he gives 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.
Trump said the United States has picked out infrastructure targets inside Iran if fighting resumes, 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.”
He said he would rather not destroy that 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.”
Trump’s account of Iran’s defences
On Iran’s ability to withstand new strikes, Trump said its air defences have been destroyed. “It’s unstoppable because they have no anti-aircraft stuff. All of their anti-aircraft is gone,” he said.
He put what is left of Iran’s missile capacity at 10% and its drone capability at 15%. “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. Those figures are Trump’s own account in the interview. CNN did not independently confirm them in its report.
The war began eight months ago. Since then the two sides have been in a stalemate, CNN reported, with little military action or significant diplomatic progress, while oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz have come under Iranian attack.
The United States, Iran and Qatar, which has mediated the talks, have kept quiet about the status of the negotiations. Iran has also struggled to sell crude oil on global markets under U.S. sanctions, CNN reported, while billions of dollars in assets held in foreign banks have been frozen.
Diplomatic activity across the Middle East has increased since Tuesday’s midterm elections. On Friday, Qatar said Trump had called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss de-escalation. 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.
“Most likely it will not be necessary,” Trump repeated about the prospect of new military action. “They want to make a deal so badly.”
Have something to promote?
Bring your business, services or event to our readers.