President Donald Trump said Saturday he was not ready to make a deal to end the war with Iran despite the country’s desire to do so “because the conditions are not good enough yet,” but declined to specify what those conditions would be.
In a wide-ranging, nearly 30-minute phone interview with NBC News, the president also said he was working with other countries on a plan to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid soaring global oil prices, and he dismissed American concerns about rising gas prices since the United States and Israel launched their joint military operation two weeks ago.
The president also questioned whether Iran’s new supreme leader was “even alive.”
Trump said he was “surprised” that Iran had decided to attack other Middle Eastern countries in response to the US-Israeli operation, and that US strikes on Kharg Island on Saturday “totally demolished” most of the island, but that “we might hit it a few more times just for fun.”
He also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying it was “much more difficult to reach a deal” with him than Russian President Vladimir Putin on efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Trump’s comments follow criticism from world leaders after US eased sanctions on Russian oil in a bid to mitigate soaring global oil prices.
Trump says he is not ready to make a deal with Iran
During the phone call, Trump said he was not willing to make a deal to end the war with Iran at this point.
“Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to do it because the conditions are not good enough yet,” he said, adding that the conditions will have to be “very strong.”
When asked what the terms of a possible deal to end the war would be, the president replied: “I don’t want to tell you that. » But he acknowledged that a commitment by Iran to completely abandon any nuclear ambition would be part of it.
Trump’s comments come after Reuters reported that the Trump administration had sidelined efforts to advance negotiations to end the war.
He also provided a glimpse of what the rest of the U.S. military operation in Iran might look like. It began last month when Israeli and US forces launched joint strikes on the country and Iran responded by launching strikes on Israel and US targets in neighboring countries. Thirteen active US military personnel have died since the start of the conflict, including six US crew members who died on Friday. after the crash of their military supply plane in Iraq.
Trump administration officials sent contradictory messages over the past two weeks, on US military objectives in Iran and the possible duration of the conflict, with Trump sometimes saying so it could take a month or more And at other times, saying “we are way ahead of schedule” and there is “virtually nothing left to target.”
On Saturday, the president said that “the only power they have, and it’s a power that can be taken away relatively quickly, is the power to drop a mine or fire a relatively short-range missile. But when we’re done with the coastline, they won’t have that power either.”
He later added: “We destroyed most of their missiles. We destroyed most of their drones. We destroyed their missile and drone manufacturing, for the most part. Within two days, it will be totally decimated.”
Securing the Strait of Hormuz
Trump said Saturday he was asking “many countries affected by Iran’s brutality” to help secure the Strait of Hormuz – a key maritime passage for oil tankers – as global oil prices rise jumped in the middle of the war.
Meanwhile, Iranian leaders swore to keep the strait closed and have demanded even higher oil prices since the start of the conflict.
The president said several countries have pledged to help secure the strait, but declined to name any of them.
“Not only are they committed, but they think it’s a great idea,” he said.
In a Truth on social media On Saturday morning, Trump wrote: “Many countries, especially those affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Strait of Hormuz, will send warships, working with the United States of America, to keep the strait open and secure,” adding: “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others, who are affected by this artificial constraint, will send ships to the region.”
In the phone call, Trump said it was unclear whether Iran had dropped mines in the strait.
“We’re going to be sweeping the strait very aggressively, and we think we’ll be joined by other countries that are somewhat hampered, and in some cases prevented, from getting oil,” he added.
The president hesitated when asked whether the U.S. Navy would begin escorting ships through the strait, responding, “I don’t want to tell you anything about that,” but adding that “it’s possible.”
The president also confirmed that U.S. forces carried out strikes on the island of Kharga strategic island off the coast of Iran that is home to an oil terminal responsible for the majority of the country’s oil exports.
U.S. Central Command said Saturday morning it had conducted “precision strikes” on 90 military targets while “preserving oil infrastructure,” but Trump said later Saturday that “we’ve totally demolished Kharg Island, but we might hit it a few more times just for fun.”
“We have totally decimated it,” added the president. “Except, as you know, I haven’t done anything about the power lines because it would take years to rebuild them.”
Trump questions whether Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘alive’
The president wondered Saturday whether Iran new supreme leaderMojtaba Khamenei, is alive after Khamenei failed to appear on camera to make his first statement as Iranian leader on Thursday.
In a written declarationKhamenei, the son of assassinated predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed to continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz and attacking U.S. allies in the region.
“I don’t know if he’s alive. So far, no one has been able to show him,” Trump said by phone Saturday.
“I hear he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, which is turn himself in,” Trump added, while calling the news of his death a “rumor.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the younger Khamenei was “injured and probably disfigured” and called his written statement “weak.”
“Iran has a lot of cameras and a lot of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father: dead; he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy,” Hegseth added.
Khamenei was named the new supreme leader earlier this week after the first US and Israeli strikes against Iran. killed his father a week earlier.
Trump declined to say whether there was a specific Iranian leader he would like to see take over as supreme leader, instead saying, “We have people alive who would be great leaders for the future of the country.” »
Asked if he was in contact with any of the potential leaders, the president replied: “I don’t want to say that. I don’t want to put them in danger.”
Trump ‘surprised’ that Iran targeted other Middle East countries
The president said Saturday that U.S. allies in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, “have been great” and “have been shot at unnecessarily.”
“I was very surprised,” Trump said of Iran’s targeting of other Middle Eastern countries, adding that it was “the biggest surprise I’ve had in this whole thing.”
According to an analysis from NBC NewsIran has fired drones at Middle Eastern countries, including those mentioned by Trump, as well as Bahrain and Kuwait, and targeted oil infrastructure, logistics hubs and government centers.
The United States does not release data on the number of drones it encounters or intercepts, but UAE data indicates that 1,475 unmanned aerial vehicles had been fired on the country as of March 10.
On Saturday morning, Iraqi officials said an Iranian strike hit a helipad in the US Embassy complex in Baghdad. Also Saturday, following American strikes on the island of Kharg, in Iran. threatened to destroy oil and gas infrastructure throughout the region if the United States struck the island’s oil infrastructure.
Trump ‘not worried’ about rising gas prices
Trump, who in 2024 attacked repeatedly Facing high gas prices, then-President Joe Biden on Saturday dismissed concerns about whether rising U.S. gas prices could hurt Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
“I think they’re going to come down from where they were before, and I had them at record lows,” Trump said of gas prices, promising they would fall soon after the end of the war in Iran.
On March 1, the day after the United States and Israel began the attack on Iran, the price of natural gas averaged $2.94 per gallon in the United States. by GasBuddy. On Saturday, the average price was $3.66.
“There’s so much oil, gas, there’s so much, but you know, it’s a little clogged. It will be unclogged very soon,” the president added.
Asked directly whether gas prices could affect the midterm elections, Trump responded: “I’m not worried at all.
“The only thing I want to do is make sure that Iran can never again be the tyrant of the Middle East,” he added.
Trump says Russia ‘maybe’ sharing information with Iran
Asked about his decision temporarily lift certain sanctions on Russian oil amid rising global oil prices, the president said: “I want to have oil for the world. I want to have oil.”
He added that the sanctions, imposed when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, “I will return there as soon as the crisis is over.”
Saturday, asked about criticism of certain foreign leaders Regarding the lifting of sanctions, Trump did not respond directly but directed his anger towards re the Ukrainian president, saying on the phone: “I’m surprised that Zelensky doesn’t want to make a deal. Tell Zelensky to make a deal because Putin is ready to make a deal.”
“It is much more difficult to reach an agreement with Zelensky,” added the American president.
Zelensky earlier this month offered to help American forces and their allies in the Middle East by intercepting Iranian drones, using the experience of the Ukrainian army in shooting down Russian drones.
But on Saturday, Trump said “we don’t need help,” adding that “the last person we need is Zelensky.”
The president declined to say whether the United States had accepted help from Ukraine with drone interception technology.
In a post on On Friday, Zelensky wrote: “Countries in the Middle East have contacted us, asking us to share our expertise in intercepting Iranian ‘shahed’ drones in massive strikes. That is why we have already sent teams of experts to three countries.”
Earlier on Saturday, an Iranian politician said Ukraine was a “legitimate and lawful target” for Iran because Ukraine offered help to defend against Iranian drones.
Asked to respond to reports that Russia share intelligence with Iran on the location of U.S. forces“Russia may be giving information, maybe not,” Trump said.
He added that the United States is “doing this against them” because “we are giving a little information to Ukraine and we are trying to make peace between the two nations.”
