Trump Says Renewed Strikes on Iran ‘Highly Unlikely’ if Talks Make Progress

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that renewed U.S. military strikes on Iran are “highly unlikely” as long as negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz keep moving forward.

“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump told CNN’s Jim Sciutto in a 20-minute phone interview, repeating five times that new strikes would most likely not be needed. “Most likely it will not be necessary,” he said. “They want to make a deal so badly.”

Three carriers in the region

Trump said U.S. forces are in place if he orders action. “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. He also said the U.S. has identified targets inside Iran, including power plants and 38 bridges he said could be knocked down “in literally one hour,” but added that he would prefer not to destroy them because rebuilding would take years.

Trump also said Iran’s air defenses have been destroyed and put Tehran’s remaining missile capacity at 10 percent and its drone capacity at 15 percent. He said Iran’s inflation had reached 301 percent this year. Those figures come from the president himself, and the U.S. government has not published an independent assessment to match them.

Rubio sounds a cooler note

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters in Florida before leaving for a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Paris, said he would not describe the talks as near a breakthrough. “I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” Rubio said. “Right now, it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.”

Qatar has been mediating the talks. Trump said he called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Friday to discuss de-escalation, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke the day before with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey, Cyprus and Qatar.

The remarks followed eight months of war that has settled into a stalemate, according to CNN, with tankers in the Strait of Hormuz still coming under attack. Three oil tankers caught fire in the strait over the weekend after blasts, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Oil prices fell when markets opened on Monday after Trump’s remarks. Brent crude was down 64 cents, or 0.64 percent, to $97.67 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell 35 cents, or 0.40 percent, to $90.51, Reuters reported. Brent briefly fell more than $1 a barrel.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN and Reuters.