Washington, DC [US], November 9 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday that it is “highly unlikely” he will order American forces back into conflict with Iran, provided tangible progress is achieved in negotiations surrounding Tehran’s nuclear programme and the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, while revealing that the US has identified 38 Iranian bridges and key infrastructure for potential destruction, CNN reported.
During a 20-minute telephone interview with the CNN anchor, the US President repeated his assertion five times, indicating that further military escalation would remain off the table if Tehran agreed to comprehensive diplomatic concessions.
“It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” Trump told CNN. “The answer is highly unlikely it’s going to be necessary. They’re a failing nation. It just came out, you saw this year, 301% inflation. Highly unlikely it will be necessary. I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don’t know how hard I hit them.”
Trump asserted that devastating economic sanctions coupled with previous military strikes had severely degraded Tehran’s capabilities.
“So it’s highly unlikely I’ll have to,” Trump continued. “They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off.”
Trump further disclosed, “We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour. They’ll all be down,” according to CNN.
Explaining his hesitation to obliterate logistical conduits, Trump added, “I don’t want to do that because essentially, it’ll take 10 years to rebuild them. 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.”
Meanwhile, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei affirmed that political developments in Washington—including a recent Democratic sweep in the US midterm elections—would have zero bearing on Tehran’s stance towards Washington, Al Jazeera reported.
Taking to social media platform X, senior adviser Mohamed Mokhber cautioned against placing expectations on shifts in the American legislative landscape, calling on the Iranian administration to rely solely on domestic economic resilience.
Mokhber wrote that it was “naive to tie our fate to Washington,” according to Al Jazeera. “It is necessary to mobilise our economic resources. Time is a national asset; it must not be wasted,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Armed Forces warned the United States against pursuing its hegemonic and hostile policies towards the Islamic Republic, asserting that any power standing against Iran would ultimately face “collapse and disintegration”.
According to Iranian state media, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Brigadier General Shekarchi, spokesperson for Iran’s Armed Forces, said, “The political and electoral developments in the United States and the successive defeats of the Trump administration and his party colleagues in various fields are, rather than being the result of superficial fluctuations in the country’s domestic politics, a reflection of a larger and undeniable reality: defeat against the will of a powerful Iran.”
“The failure of Washington’s doctrine of aggression, terror, and maximum pressure, and its ineffective military strategies in the face of the deterrent, fragile authority, and iron will of the leadership, nation, and armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is not hidden from any impartial analyst today,” he added.
Shekarchi also alleged that the hostile policies pursued by American leaders against Iran, coupled with successive setbacks in West Asia and other parts of the world, had weakened Washington’s position.
“The hostile policies of American leaders against Iran, the successive failures in the world, especially in the West Asian region, the collapse of the aggressor’s military fleet and equipment, and the stalemate in that country’s threats have shaken the foundations of the White House’s hollow power,” the spokesperson said.
In another sharp criticism of the US administration, Shekarchi accused US President Donald Trump and his associates of entering the confrontation with Iran with the objective of destroying the Islamic Republic but claimed that Washington had instead faced strategic setbacks and internal challenges.
“Trump and his foolish, extremist, and terrorist associates had entered the field proudly and civilised to destroy Iran, but in a reverse turn, they themselves became victims of strategic erosion, deep internal crises, and defeats imposed by the proud armed forces of Iran and the axis of resistance,” he said.
Describing the developments as evidence of changing global power dynamics, the Iranian Armed Forces spokesperson asserted that major powers could not always impose their will on countries resisting their policies.
“This strategic failure is living proof of the fact that the world’s power equations never favour the hegemons,” Shekarchi said.
Issuing a warning against any power seeking to confront Iran, he said that those challenging the Islamic Republic would ultimately face political and strategic collapse.
“Any power that lines up against the solid, steadfast rock and the divine and steely will of Islamic Iran will have no end but collapse and disintegration in the world’s public opinion,” he added.
The remarks reflect Tehran’s continued criticism of Washington’s approach towards the Islamic Republic amid the conflict and its rejection of American hegemonic policies under Trump. (ANI)
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