Donald Trump on Sunday told CNN in a phone interview that it is "highly unlikely" that the US will strike Iran again if the ongoing peace talks progress.
Trump comments come as a positive development after Iran sent a nuclear proposal, an agreement on its nuclear program, to the US earlier this week via Qatar. Reports said that Iran has said that talks on the proposal can begin only if the US fulfils seven conditions as part of a peace deal.
Trump on Sunday told CNN that he doesn't think a fresh round of strikes in Iran "will be necessary" if talks progress.
“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” the 81-year-old said. “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,” Trump continued. "I would, if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don’t know how hard I hit them.
{{/usCountry}}“Highly unlikely it will be necessary,” Trump continued. "I would, if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don’t know how hard I hit them.
{{/usCountry}}“So it’s highly unlikely I’ll have to,” Trump added, “They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off.”
Also read: Trump says 'largely true' Iran war led to midterm losses but defends actions
Trump softening his stance on Iran since midterm rout
Donald Trump has been softening his stance on the Iran war since the Republican Party, under his leadership, suffered a rout in the midterm elections.
The day after the elections results came, Vice President JD Vance made a X post with a lengthy analysis of what went wrong for the Republicans. In short, the Ohio Republican laid the blame on the impact of the Iran war on American lives.
Also read: Iran sends nuclear proposal to US through Qatar, sets seven conditions for negotiations: Report
Trump, when asked about Vance's comments, said that the Iran war was partly responsible for the election rout, but defended it anyway, saying he "would do it again."
On Thursday, Trump said that the US is "locked and loaded" for a potential strike on Iran. "We're building more weapons right now in our military than we've ever built before," he said.
"If we have to do the rest of the Iran thing, we're very much locked and loaded." However, whether or not the US will go ahead and launch another large-scale operation was uncertain at the time. "We'll make a decision," Trump told reporters.