US President Donald Trump has ruled out any immediate plans to launch military strikes against Iran, telling the Financial Times that Washington's current posture represents a "brilliant situation" as the administration remains content with the level of pressure on Tehran.
Speaking in a telephone interview hours before polling stations closed in the US congressional midterm elections, Trump downplayed speculation that he was preparing to escalate hostilities after the vote.
"We seem to be getting everything we want," he said.
Asked about strong signals from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a military strike could occur later this week, Trump insisted American armed forces remain prepared to act, whilst noting military intervention might ultimately prove unnecessary.
"I'm ready, we're ready. We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it," Trump said.
Enriched uranium stockpile
The remarks follow US air strikes on Monday targeting sites on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, which Washington described as a defensive operation to safeguard American assets.
Trump maintained that an American naval blockade on Iranian ports is successfully stifling the country's economy, asserting that more crude oil is now moving through the critical maritime bottleneck than prior to the conflict.
The president dismissed the notion that Washington remains in an active confrontation: "We're not really in a war, because we hit them with the B2 bombers and wiped out their nuclear potential incapacity... if you think about it, we haven’t really had a war with them in a long time, six months, maybe more."
Trump confirmed indirect discussions continue regarding Iran's roughly 454-kilogram stockpile of enriched uranium.
"Even though it's under hundreds of tons of rock, I would say that I’m not happy that it will be there," he noted.
"So it's one of the things that we do talk to them about... we'll see how that all works out."
