They Are Living Through Their Final Stage… Trump ‘Not Interested’ in Negotiating with Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is not seeking to force Iran back to the negotiating table, stressing that securing a new agreement with Tehran is not a priority for him.
In a post on the platform X, Trump added that the current situation was preferable to returning to negotiations, referring to what he described as “almost complete control of the Strait of Hormuz,” while also claiming that Iran’s economy was “completely collapsing.”
Trump said that Iran was “living through the final stage of an inevitable process,” before asking: “When will the Iranian people rise up and fight?”
Trump’s remarks came after a major wave of U.S. strikes targeting Iranian military sites. U.S. Central Command announced that it had completed strikes against around 100 targets, including air-defense sites, radar systems, naval assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites, as well as launch platforms for anti-ship cruise missiles and offensive drones.
U.S. forces also targeted two oil tankers belonging to the Iranian government, marking the first publicly announced use of the “tanker-for-tanker” policy. According to a U.S. official, the policy is intended to deter Iran from attacking oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to U.S. officials, the strikes were also part of a plan aimed at preventing Iran from rebuilding the radar and missile capabilities it needs to attack vessels in the strait. One U.S. official said the strikes had bought “at least a month” of reduced threat levels for commercial shipping.
The confrontation continued with an Iranian response involving ballistic missiles and drones targeting U.S. sites and bases across the region, including in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Erbil, while countries in the region announced that they had intercepted Iranian attacks.
Amid the escalating tensions, Trump warned Iran against responding to the U.S. strikes, saying it would face attacks “far more powerful” if it retaliated again. He also threatened that Iran could be “completely wiped out as a state” should further retaliation occur.
