President Donald Trump said on Saturday night the United States is not “in that much of a hurry” to sign a negotiated deal with Iran as the president weighs launching a fresh wave of strikes against the terrorist-sponsoring nation following the midterm elections.
When asked if there’s a “timeframe for the Qatari-mediated negotiations” while fielding questions from reporters at a Halloween event at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said there’s no rush to strike a deal since Iran’s navy, air force, and anti-aircraft equipment have been “knocked out.”
“We’ve knocked out almost every piece of military equipment they have,” he said. “We’ve knocked out a lot of their manufacturing capability. We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites. But we can do that in ten minutes. And we have that planned.”
Trump’s comments come the same day that Iranian leadership heightened its rhetoric against the U.S., as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said an “immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response” would follow any American or Israeli threat of new attacks. The last confirmed strikes against Iran occurred in August.
“With all informational capacity, we monitor the enemy’s movements and preparations and update the target bank,” Major Gen. Ali Abdollahi, the chief of staff of the armed forces of Iran, said on Saturday as well. “Whenever signs of hostile enemy action are confirmed, the armed forces will not wait for the start of his action in choosing the time and manner of response.”
IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER VOWS ‘UNRESTRICTED RESPONSE’ TO ANY US OR ISRAELI STRIKES
Trump offered a glimpse into what potential action may look like once the midterm elections are over, saying, “You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain; you have to take care of that. We could do that all very quickly.” Trump also said last week the conflict would be over “very soon.”
Trump has stood by his February decision to strike Iran despite the public’s broadly unfavorable view of the conflict, and the belief that disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz may be linked to stubbornly high inflation. Though Trump largely ran on lowering costs during the 2024 presidential election, many Republican figures fear the issue of “affordability” may sink the GOP’s chances of retaining control of Congress on Tuesday.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
