US has no immediate plans to strike Iran: Trump

The US has no immediate plans to strike Iran, President Donald Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday. In an interview with the newspaper hours before polls closed in US midterm elections, Trump described Washington's position toward Iran as a “brilliant situation,” suggesting the administration was satisfied with the current balance of pressure on Tehran. “We seem to be getting everything we want,” he said. Asked about indications from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an attack could take place later this week, Trump said American forces remained prepared to act but suggested that military action might not be necessary.

“I’m ready, we’re ready. We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it,” he said. Trump argued that the US was not currently engaged in a conventional war with Iran, pointing to previous American military operations against the country's nuclear infrastructure. “We’re not really in a war, because we hit them with the B-2 bombers and wiped out their nuclear potential incapacity,” he said, referring to the earlier US bombing campaign.

He also referenced Operation Epic Fury and subsequent military actions, arguing that the confrontation did not resemble major conventional conflicts such as World War I, World War II or the ongoing war in Ukraine. “I don’t consider that we’re in a war like Ukraine, wars like World War I, World War II,” he said. Despite his assessment, the president acknowledged that Washington remained concerned about Iran's stockpile of approximately 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium.

Trump described the material as “nuclear dust” and said indirect negotiations with Tehran over its future were continuing. Although much of the material is believed to be buried beneath extensive rubble from previous strikes, Trump said he was not satisfied with the prospect of it remaining there. “Even though it’s under hundreds of tons of rock, I would say that I’m not happy that it will be there,” he told the FT. He added that the issue remained among the subjects being discussed in ongoing contacts with Iran.