President Donald Trump said on Sunday that renewed U.S. military action against Iran is “highly unlikely” if negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz show progress. He made the assessment during a 20-minute phone interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump 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. I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don’t know how hard I hit them.”
He then reiterated that resumption of combat operations is “highly unlikely,” repeating the phrase five times. “So it’s highly unlikely I’ll have to. They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off,” the president added.
The comments come roughly eight months after hostilities began. The situation has remained largely in a stalemate over the last several weeks, with limited major military exchanges and ongoing Iranian attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
Indirect talks, mediated in part by Qatar, have continued without a public breakthrough. Iranian officials have cited U.S. midterm results as a factor in recent diplomacy. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks had paused while mediators assessed the political implications of the election outcome.
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Trump says return to war with Iran ‘highly unlikely’ as sides continue negotiations https://t.co/FWeTTXD1LA pic.twitter.com/2yHu7XsIxb
— New York Post (@nypost) November 8, 2026
While stating that resumption of the conflict is “highly unlikely,” the president did note that military options remain available. “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,” the president said.
He further stated that U.S. military commanders have identified infrastructure targets inside Iran, including power plants and bridges. “We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour,” he said. “They’ll all be down.”
Trump also indicated a preference against such strikes: “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.”
In the period leading to the midterm elections held last Tuesday, Trump stated publicly that the United States would not attack Iran before the vote. On Truth Social, he wrote that the U.S. “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections.”
Reporting at the time indicated that some administration officials viewed heavier operations as a possible post-election option, and Trump made statements leaving open the possibility of resumed strikes afterward while emphasizing there was “no rush.” The war’s duration and effects on fuel prices were noted as factors in Republican electoral losses, according to several exit polls.
Diplomatic talks are expected to continue between the U.S., Iran and third-party mediators are expected to continue this week.
