Trump Says New Iran War Is ‘Highly Unlikely,’ but Tehran Gives the White House Two Days

President Donald Trump said a return to open war with Iran is “highly unlikely” if talks make progress, but Tehran’s top diplomat is pressing the White House to accept its terms after the Republican midterm losses.

“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump told CNN in an interview Sunday, CNBC reported. “The answer is highly unlikely it’s going to be necessary. They’re a failing nation.”

Trump kept force on the table. “I’ve got three aircraft carriers here. … They’re fully locked and loaded,” he said, according to CNBC. “We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour.”

“They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off,” Trump said, the New York Post reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi used the U.S. election results to push Tehran’s plan. “American voters have made their choice. Time for the White House to make its own,” he wrote on X Sunday, the Washington Sun reported.

“Our 2-day proposal stands: meet the requirements, including end to war on all fronts, and you will see results,” Araghchi wrote.

Iran sent a new proposal through Qatari mediators on Thursday listing seven conditions, including lifting U.S. sanctions and war reparations, the Washington Sun reported, citing Reuters.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the terms. “Right now, it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases outrageous and ridiculous, and really not realistic,” he said, according to the Washington Sun.

Rubio said he “wouldn’t say” the U.S. is “on the verge of a breakthrough,” adding that Trump prefers diplomacy but “sometimes that’s not possible, unfortunately.”

Trump is scheduled to meet Monday with Qatar’s prime minister, who has been the lead mediator between Washington and Tehran, the Washington Examiner reported, citing Axios.

Trump has demanded that Iran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree never to build a nuclear weapon, CNBC reported. The U.S. has kept a naval blockade on Iranian ports for months.

Trump also touted the new land-route crackdown on Truth Social, writing that “Task Force Iron Gate is in full force and effect,” CNBC reported. “Coupled with history’s greatest Naval Blockade, very little gets into, or out of, Iran!”

In his “60 Minutes” interview, Trump said countries the U.S. has protected “are going to pay us back any and all costs that we’ve had for the war,” according to the CBS transcript. “Without us, Israel would not exist,” he said.

The war has become a political liability. Democrats have vowed to pass a resolution restricting Trump’s ability to wage war on Iran once they take over Congress in January, the New York Post reported.

Vice President JD Vance has blamed the war for the GOP’s losses, and Trump told “60 Minutes” he does not disagree, Fox News reported, while insisting he would strike Iran again because “you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

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