US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran and Israel were “exhausted” after “fierce” and “violent” fighting, but warned that the conflict could resume “one day”.
“We think it’s over. I don’t think they’re going to take revenge on each other,” Trump told reporters at a NATO summit in The Hague, adding that both sides were “happy to go home.”
However, Trump acknowledged uncertainty about lasting peace: “Can it start again? I guess it can one day. Maybe it could start soon.”
He claimed that the war effectively ended when US forces attacked Iran’s nuclear sites.
“I think the war actually ended when we hit various nuclear sites with planes,” he said.
Trump said US strikes hit Iran’s nuclear facilities so “hard” and “fast” that Iran was unable to move nuclear materials, claiming the program had been “blown up to the sky”.
He cited a report by the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission that said the US strikes had “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years”.
Trump said the operation had not only damaged Iran’s nuclear program but also “confirmed the credibility of American deterrence”.
He also announced that talks with Iran were scheduled for next week, with the potential signing of a deal.
But he added: “I don’t think it’s that necessary.”
The US president said Iran was “going back to its own world” after the war and added: “I don’t care if I have a deal or not.”
