Trump: No immediate plans to restart confrontation with Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington had no immediate plans to launch further strikes against Iran but remained prepared to act if necessary, according to The Financial Times.

The interview took place before results from the U.S. midterm elections began coming in.

Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestions of another attack later this week, Trump said, “I’m ready, we’re ready. We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it.” He added that Washington was achieving its objectives, saying, “We seem to be getting everything we want.”

Trump also said indirect negotiations with Tehran were continuing, including discussions over about 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium believed to be buried beneath rubble following earlier strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Even though it’s under hundreds of tons of rock, I would say that I’m not happy that it will be there,” he said.

In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump stated that “a lot of people would like to do the heavy hit” on Iran, but “the only thing I can tell you with certainty, [Iran] will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Speaking later on Tuesday with The Wall Street Journal over the phone, Trump acknowledged that the war with Iran contributed to Republican losses in the midterm elections but insisted he did not regret launching the conflict.

“Iran was a piece of it,” Trump said. “I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”

Trump said rising oil prices had hurt Republicans politically but argued that his absence from the ballot was the biggest factor in the party’s losses. “The biggest issue is that I wasn’t on the ballot,” he said.

Trump made similar remarks on Fox & Friends, saying voters generally supported his actions against Iran but were unwilling to accept the short-term consequences of higher gasoline prices. “I understand that. I don’t agree with it. Too bad,” he said.

Iran wants an agreement ‘very badly’

On Monday, the U.S. president said that Iran wants to make a deal to end the war “very badly.”

“We’re dealing from total strength,” he told Fox News in a phone interview. “We can end it at any time.”

“They’re in not a good negotiating position,” Trump continued, adding that the Islamic Republic’s economy is “cratering because of us.”

The regime has no money and is not paying its soldiers or police, he said, adding that the U.S. military had dealt Iran “a big hit,” taking out some 159 of its ships.

There was a very good chance of an agreement, he continued, but the Iranians “want to wait.” He said he would rather make a deal and “save a lot of lives.”

Vance: The president retains kinetic and non-kinetic options

Also on Monday, Vice President JD Vance told reporters that “The president and I both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement [with Tehran]. We’re going to keep on working at it.”

Standing on the tarmac at the Joint Base Andrews air base in Maryland, Vance continued, “You never know, of course, the Iranians are always a little unpredictable and as the president always says, he retains kinetic options, he retains non-kinetic options, but we’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more.”

Asked if there was a deadline to reach a settlement before the United States would resume strikes, the vice president said, “No... We’ve said, here’s what we want. And what we want is, having destroyed their nuclear program, we want to make sure they don’t rebuild it or try to rebuild it; that’s what matters most to the United States.”