Trump Tells CNN New Iran Strikes Are 'Highly Unlikely' If Tehran Signs Deal, While Araghchi Says Mediator Travel Has Stopped

Eight months after the war began and days after Republicans lost the midterms, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, Nov. 8, that sending U.S. forces back into action against Iran is "highly unlikely," so long as Tehran signs a deal.

He made the case in a 20-minute phone interview with CNN's Jim Sciutto and repeated the "highly unlikely" line five times.

"It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement," Trump said. "The answer is highly unlikely it's going to be necessary. I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard."

The threat that came with it

The softer tone came with hardware attached. Trump said three aircraft carriers are in the region, with the latest one having just arrived. "They're fully locked and loaded," he said.

He also said the U.S. has identified infrastructure targets inside Iran, including power plants and bridges. "We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour. They'll all be down," he said.

Then he explained why he hasn't ordered it. "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."

That is a notable shift from Thursday, Nov. 5, when Trump told reporters the U.S. was "very much locked and loaded" to "do the rest of the Iran thing" and said only that "we'll make a decision."

Trump's economic argument

Trump's stated theory is that financial pressure will do the work. "They're a failing nation," he said. "It just came out, you saw this year, 301% inflation. They're withering away financially."

The 301% figure is Trump's claim. He did not cite where it came from in the interview.

The pressure itself is real in some respects. Iran has struggled to sell crude on global markets under U.S. sanctions, and billions of dollars in its assets held in foreign banks are frozen. The U.S. military has also begun offering a reward of up to $20 million for information on Iran's nuclear program. It has launched a task force aimed at blocking Tehran from moving advanced weapons and other materials over land routes.

Tehran's answer: talks are on hold

Iran is reading the election differently. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state television on Sunday that mediators have stopped traveling.

"For the past few days, there has been no more travel (by mediators), and the reason for this is the shock that the election results in the United States have caused to everyone," Araghchi said. He added that Iran has to see "how long it will take for them to digest these results, in order to determine how we are going to move forward."

Iranian hardliners have pointed to the Democratic landslide as proof of a weakened Trump presidency that would be more willing to concede on Iran's demands. Those demands include continuing its nuclear program, which Iran says is for civilian energy, and keeping control of the Strait of Hormuz.

A separate report earlier in the week said Iran sent a nuclear proposal to Washington through Qatar and set seven conditions the U.S. must meet before talks on it can begin. The seven conditions have not been detailed publicly. The U.S., Iran and Qatar, which has mediated, have all kept quiet on the state of negotiations.

One Iranian adviser, Mohamed Mokhber, who advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly rejected the idea that politics in Washington should shape Iran's posture, urging a focus on domestic economic resilience instead.

What the stalemate looks like on the ground

The war has settled into a stalemate with little military action and little diplomatic progress. Iranian forces have attacked oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran continues to restrict traffic through the waterway at least partly.

That has cut oil supplies out of the Gulf and pushed up U.S. gasoline prices. Trump has acknowledged the war contributed at least in part to Tuesday's Republican defeat, though he has said he "would do it again." Vice President JD Vance has publicly blamed the war's effect on American lives for the party's losses.

So the U.S. position as of Nov. 8 is a stated preference for a deal, three carriers on station, a target list, and a president who says he will strike if he has to. Iran's position is that nothing moves until it has assessed Washington's post-election politics.

The next concrete marker is whether Qatari mediators resume travel, and whether Iran formally answers Trump's call to sign a deal on terms he calls strong. Neither side has announced a date for the next round of talks.