US President Donald Trump said the United States has no immediate plans to launch a strike against Iran, expressing satisfaction with the current state of the confrontation with Tehran while reaffirming his readiness for further military action if necessary.
In a six-minute telephone interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday, Trump said: “It seems we are getting everything we want.”
Asked about remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinting at a possible attack later this week, Trump said: “I’m ready, and we’re ready. We are on standby and equipped to act if we need to, but perhaps there will be no reason to do so.”
Trump made the remarks just hours before polling stations across the United States were due to close in the midterm congressional elections, which have been dominated by voters’ concerns over inflation and a sharp rise in fuel prices following his decision to enter a war with Iran.
Trump said energy prices would fall sharply after the midterm elections. He claimed that more oil was currently passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for crude oil supplies from the Gulf, than before the war, and that the US blockade of Iranian ports was successfully choking Iran’s economy.
“It’s a great situation,” Trump said.
He added that the United States was not “really” at war with Iran, saying: “We’re not really at war, because we hit them with B-2 bombers and destroyed their potential nuclear capability. Then we hit them again, in Operation Epic Fury, and so on. But if you think about it, we haven’t really been at war with them for a long time, perhaps six months or more.”
Trump added that he did not consider the situation a war of the kind being witnessed in Ukraine or conflicts such as the First and Second World Wars.
The US president stressed that he would not disclose any plans for a potential attack in advance. However, he indicated that indirect negotiations with Iran were continuing over the fate of its stockpile of approximately 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium, which he refers to as “nuclear dust.”
“Even though it is under hundreds of tons of rock, I’m not happy with it being there,” Trump said. “So that’s one of the things we’re talking to them about. But, you know, we’re having discussions, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Hopes for progress in US-Iran peace talks have driven oil prices lower in recent days. Brent crude has fallen by more than $10 per barrel over the past several days, reaching approximately $104.
Meanwhile, US gasoline prices recorded a new record average on Tuesday, the highest under any US administration.
Trump also said he was optimistic that peace talks between Ukraine and Russia were making progress.
“I think both sides have reached a point where they’re saying, ‘Let’s make a deal,’” he said.
However, Ukrainian negotiators do not share Trump’s optimism.
