US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that it is “highly unlikely” that the US will return to war with Iran if progress is made in ongoing indirect negotiations.
“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump said during an interview with CNN. “The answer is highly unlikely [that] it’s going to be necessary… I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard.”
Trump emphasized that American military forces are ready to act against Iran if he does decide to order strikes, saying that a third “fully locked and loaded” US aircraft carrier strike group recently arrived in the region.
Trump says US to target infrastructure if strikes renewed
He further detailed that Washington had already identified possible targets inside Iran, including infrastructure such as power plants and bridges.
“We have 38 bridges in our sight that we can knock down in literally one hour,” Trump told CNN. “They’ll all be down.”
Trump noted that he would prefer not to strike infrastructure, predicting that it could take Tehran up to 10 years to rebuild destroyed bridges.
“I don’t like ripping down bridges. And the hardest thing to build is a bridge. It takes years, and I’m a good builder,” he added.
Trump asserted that a US attack would be “unstoppable” due to Iranian air defenses being destroyed in previous American airstrikes.
“All of their anti-aircraft is gone…. The only thing they can do is about 10% level - make some missiles and make some drones,” Trump said of Iran’s remaining defense capabilities. “Drones at about 15% because much of their factories are gone.”
Trump repeated that renewed strikes will most likely not be necessary, telling CNN that Tehran badly wants to reach a deal.