Trump says new Iran offensive ‘highly unlikely,’ but it depends on progress in talks

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said it was “highly unlikely” that he would order a new offensive against Iran if there is progress in negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump told CNN when asked about a potential renewed offensive.

“The answer is highly unlikely it’s going to be necessary. They’re a failing nation… I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard… They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off,” he added.

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Trump said the US is ready to strike Iran if necessary. “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.”

But he reiterated that he would like to avoid destroying Iranian infrastructure. “I don’t want to do that because, essentially, it’ll take 10 years to rebuild them… 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.”

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Trump further claimed Iran retains only 10 percent 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 says. “They want to make a deal so badly.”

CNN did not specify exactly what it had asked Trump, who also said that if strikes resume, the US has identified potential infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges “that we can knock down in literally one hour.”

Trump had previously acknowledged that the highly unpopular war with Iran was at least partially responsible for the stinging defeat suffered by his Republican Party in last Tuesday’s midterm vote.

Iran FM says talks stopped since midterm ‘shock’

Earlier Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that mediators striving for a peace deal between the US and Iran had not traveled at all since the “shock” of the US elections.

“We now have to see how long it will take for them to digest these results, in order to determine how we are going to move forward,” the top Iranian diplomat told state TV.

Various regional powers, including Qatar and Pakistan, have been trying for months without success to bring a definitive halt to the war launched by the United States and Israel in late February.

Outright fighting has largely subsided, but Iran continues in its efforts to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, vital to global energy supplies, while the US Navy maintains its own counterblockade of Iranian ports.

“For the past few days, there has been no more travel (by mediators), and the reason for this is the shock that the election results in the United States have caused to everyone,” he said.

He said it would “take some time before the atmosphere is favorable for the resumption of mediator travel” and called for patience.

Earlier, Aragchhi posted on X: “American voters have made their choice. Time for the White House to make its own.”

He called on Washington to accept previously articulated Iranian demands or “choose war, and see our alert and battle-hardened warriors rain down hell.”

In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions, and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

It later proposed doing so in just two days, an offer Araghchi repeated in his X post on Sunday.

Iraq says it reached understandings with US on Hormuz exports

Meanwhile, Iraq said it reached understandings with the US to allow Iraqi oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz via a shipping lane near Oman.

The move was announced by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Hussein did not give details on the mechanism of the deal. He said Iraq’s losses from the Iran war and disruptions to oil exports had reached $60 billion.

Iraq’s oil exports recovered in October, after a sharp drop the previous month. Exports rose to about 3.5 million barrels per day, from 2.65 million bpd in September, according to Iraqi energy officials.

In the Strait, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that three oil tankers caught fire on Sunday.

“Since the early hours of this morning, three noncompliant tankers have exploded and caught fire while they were sailing in the illegal channel in the Strait of Hormuz,” the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.

The Guards did not specify the names or nationality of the tankers.

Also on Sunday, Iranian media suggested that explosions in southern Iran the day before were related to Iranian military activities rather than US strikes.

Iran’s state television said officials had not confirmed any missile strikes on Iranian territory following blasts heard in several areas, including on Qeshm Island in the strait.

Both the US and Iran have continued strikes on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, however, restricting exports of energy and other commodities vital to the world economy.

Iran’s state television said the evening explosions might be related to Iranian military activity in the waterway, where Iran said two vessels had hit mines and a third had caught fire.

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