US President Donald Trump said renewed military strikes against Iran remained possible, while predicting a swift American victory and a return to pre-war oil prices.
In an interview with Fox News reported early Monday, Trump said Washington was making gains through both military operations and economic pressure. He reiterated that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained his central objective.
Resuming strikes was “possible”, Trump said, but he declined to elaborate, adding that he believed the United States would win the war “very soon”.
He also predicted oil prices would fall back to levels seen before the conflict once the war ended.
The remarks came as regional mediators sought to revive negotiations between Washington and Tehran, despite substantial differences over the scope of a potential agreement.
Trump told Axios in a telephone interview on Sunday that he expected further talks with Iran this week, a day after rejecting an Iranian proposal to end the war.
According to Axios, Tehran wants negotiations to focus on the Strait of Hormuz and the US naval blockade, while Washington is demanding concessions on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Two regional sources confirmed that further discussions were expected, telling the outlet another round of indirect negotiations could begin as early as Monday. Whether the two sides could bridge their differences remained unclear.
Trump said Iran wanted an agreement, but its proposed terms fell short of what he was prepared to accept. He argued that Tehran had overestimated its negotiating position.
Asked by Axios whether he was considering resuming military strikes, Trump said: “I’m thinking about it all the time.”
Separately, Trump said the US military was helping large volumes of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz. He claimed more than 20 million barrels had moved through the waterway over the weekend, describing it as the largest volume since the war began.
A US defence official told Axios that 22 million barrels of oil had been exported through the strait on Friday night.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held another round of indirect negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi last Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, according to the report.
