WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, November 8, that he was highly unlikely to order fresh attacks on Iran as long as talks to end the conflict progress, CNN reported. The remarks, in a phone interview with CNN, are Trump's clearest signal yet on the decision he said on November 5 he would take 'soon' on whether to resume the war.
Source: Reuters
"It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement," CNN cited Trump as saying. "The answer is, highly unlikely it's going to be necessary." Reuters noted that CNN did not specify exactly what question it had asked the president.
Source: Reuters
Trump's new remarks follow his November 5 statement that he would soon decide whether to resume hostilities against Iran. Read the earlier story
"38 bridges in our sight"
In the same interview, Trump said the United States had identified potential infrastructure targets inside Iran, including power plants and bridges. "We have 38 bridges in our sight that we can knock down in literally one hour," he told CNN. "They'll all be down." He added: "I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard."
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Trump said he would prefer not to strike infrastructure, saying destroyed bridges could take Tehran up to 10 years to rebuild. "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," he said. These target and capability details are Trump's own claims in the interview; no independent verification of the target list was reported.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Trump also said US forces are ready to act if he decides otherwise, saying a third 'fully locked and loaded' US aircraft carrier strike group had recently arrived in the region — again, his own statement in the interview. He claimed a renewed US attack would be 'unstoppable' because Iranian air defences were destroyed in previous American strikes, and claimed Iran was at about a 10% level for missiles and about 15% for drones because much of its factories were gone. Those figures are Trump's claims and have not been independently verified.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Background: a war paused, talks under way
The United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, and a ceasefire has been in place since April 8, freezing the fighting while indirect negotiations continue. The talks cover Tehran's nuclear programme and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes — which is why every shift in Trump's language moves energy markets and is watched closely in the Gulf, where large numbers of Punjabi and Indian workers live and work.
Source: LaPresse / Al Jazeera background
The past week had pointed both ways. On November 5 Trump said he would soon decide whether to resume all-out war; on November 6 he rejected Iran's latest peace proposal, forwarded via Pakistan, saying he was not satisfied with it; and Vice President JD Vance has been leading behind-the-scenes efforts with Pakistani and Qatari mediators to secure a new ceasefire and restart nuclear negotiations. On November 7, US Central Command said its forces disabled a cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman that it said had tried to breach the naval blockade against Iran.
Source: Awaaz Punjab earlier reporting
What happens next
Trump repeated in the interview that Tehran badly wants to reach a deal. No Iranian response to Sunday's remarks had been reported in the Reuters or Jerusalem Post reports at the time of publication. If the indirect talks produce the 'very strong agreement' Trump described, he says renewed strikes will most likely not be necessary; if they collapse, he has said he would order strikes 'if necessary'. The next signal to watch is any Iranian or mediator response, and any movement on Hormuz shipping and the US naval blockade.
Source: Reuters