Trump on Iran: ‘Do I Make a Deal With Them, or Do I Finish Them Off?’
President Donald Trump said Sunday he is weighing whether to make a deal with Iran or “finish them off,” then ruled out a U.S. strike on the Islamic Republic that day.
“Do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off? That’s the only question,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Sunday morning.
He said Iran has “never been hit so hard” and claimed the upper hand over the key shipping lane. “Remember, we now control the Hormuz Strait. They get nothing. We get everything,” Trump said.
Trump also called the Navy’s enforcement of the blockade on Iranian ports “unbelievable” and claimed commercial traffic through the chokepoint now exceeds prewar levels, Anadolu Agency reported.
Hours later, as he left the White House for a campaign rally in Michigan, a reporter asked whether military action could come as soon as Sunday.
“Would I tell you that? But the answer is no. There will not be a strike,” Trump said.
He added, “We have two very different sets of intelligence reports,” describing the incoming information as “very advanced.” He did not elaborate on what the reports showed.
The remarks capped a weekend of mixed signals from the president. On Saturday, he told reporters, “There’s a possibility I will. There’s also a possibility we’ll have a nice big beautiful agreement,” Iran International reported.
“They want to make a deal. But the problem is, will they hold the deal?” Trump said Saturday.
He argued that any agreement must permanently stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon. “I’ve got to make it permanent. That’s the only reason I’m doing it as long as I’m doing,” he said.
Standoff Over Hormuz
The war began in late February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. A ceasefire and a memorandum aimed at a final peace deal have held since, but control of the Strait of Hormuz remains the central dispute.
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said Saturday that Tehran told Pakistani mediators it would reopen the strait if Washington lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports. He accused Trump of rejecting the offer.
The Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim news agency pushed back on a similar Al Arabiya report, calling it “lies and fantasy.” Its source said Iran “fundamentally does not accept any equation of the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the blockade.”
Israel is also on alert. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran and its proxies may try to disrupt Israel’s Oct. 27 parliamentary election. “Don’t test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows,” he said, the Times of Israel reported.
Trump has framed both paths as a win for the United States. On Sunday, he gave no timeline for choosing between a deal and renewed strikes.
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