US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran is “ready to fold up" and again predicted that the war with Tehran could end shortly after the November midterm elections.
Speaking at an event in Denton, Texas, Trump said, “We have a war going on with a country that will never have a nuclear weapon and is ready to fold up. We'll win very easily right now. I believe right after the election we'll win, but maybe before the election."
“Nobody wants to be president [of Iran]," Trump continued. “We have intercepts where it says, 'Who wants to be president? No, I don't want to be president'. Because their presidents aren't with us any longer, but we're trying to be nice to the current person. We've got to deal with somebody at some point, right?"
Trump also said Iran had been “three to four weeks away, maybe sooner" from obtaining a nuclear weapon when the war began at the end of February. “And if they have a nuclear weapon, the whole game is over. We can't let them have."
He said the conflict would end “one way or the other...either they'll do something very proper and smart or they won't be around very long, which is, you know, frankly, I hate to see that, but they won't be around very long."
Trump made similar remarks Wednesday, saying the US was nearing a decision on its next steps toward Iran and indicating that Washington could either carry out additional strikes or reach an agreement with Tehran.
Asked in the Oval Office how the US could reach an agreement with Iranian leaders whom he has repeatedly called “crazy," Trump replied, “Maybe you blow them up. Maybe you blow them up. We have to make that decision. We blow them up, make a deal. But the time is coming. It's going to end very soon, one way or the other. "
His remarks came after Iran announced that it had received the latest US response regarding efforts to restore the Gulf ceasefire. Trump had said over the weekend that he rejected Tehran’s proposal.