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President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. doesn’t need a deal with Iran despite repeatedly stating in the run-up to the midterm elections that one could be reached.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!” he wrote in a Truth Social post , referring to the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said in the post that he asked Vice President JD Vance to focus not on diplomatic talks with Iran, but on alleged “crime and corruption” in “Democrat run Cities and States.” Days before the election, Vance had reached out to hard-liner Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in a bid to restart talks, The Wall Street Journal had reported .
Vance, a potential 2028 presidential contender, had said a day after GOP losses in last week’s midterm elections that voter anger over the Iran war was the “real reason” for the party’s rout .
It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the president’s notable shift, as he had suggested numerous times before the election that the U.S. could reach an agreement to resolve the conflict with Iran in the near future.
On the eve of the election, Trump wrote on Truth Social : “Oil Prices are DROPPING LIKE A ROCK, down almost $10 a Barrel, A RECORD, because people feel that there will not be a War with Iran. Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!”
Trump’s post comes two days after he predicted at an impromptu White House news conference that the war is “going to be ending fairly soon.”
He had met with the Qatari prime minister in the Oval Office Monday and wrote in a Truth Social post afterward that “Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others, would prefer the status quo, in other words, a continuation of the Greatest Naval Blockade in History.”
He added: “Should there be any change with respect to developments in the Middle East, the United States of America is ‘locked and loaded’ and ready to go. At this point, however, that seems to be quite unlikely. Israel, and the entire Middle East, are protected from Iranian danger and threats. We are seeing positive momentum toward an end to this Conflict, and will ensure that America’s interests are at all times protected.”
Hours later, Trump made a rare call into C-SPAN, and when asked how much longer the war with Iran could last, he said, “We could knock it out fast, or we could knock it out over a short, not a long period of time.”
The president had said at the United Nations General Assembly in September that Iran was likely waiting to see the outcome of the midterm elections to make a deal.
“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump said. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.”
NBC News reported last week that some of Trump’s advisers have told him that the window for restarting major combat operations in Iran was closing and that he should act before Democrats retake control of Congress in January, according to two U.S. officials. That timeline would require him to make a decision on Iran within weeks.
Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.
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A child holds a placard during a rally against U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran outside the Los Angeles City Hall in California, the United States, March 7, 2026. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua)
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that renewed military strikes on Iran were "highly unlikely" as long as negotiations made progress, but did not rule out further military actions. In a phone interview with CNN, Trump claimed that the United States had already dealt a severe blow to Iran and that further military action was "highly unlikely" to be necessary. "It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement," Trump noted, referring to Iran's nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The president also claimed that the United States had identified potential infrastructure targets in Iran, including power plants and bridges, and could destroy 38 bridges in an hour. "Most likely it will not be necessary," Trump reiterated. "They want to make a deal so badly." More than eight months after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, Trump has repeatedly sent mixed signals about his willingness to end the conflict. Washington and Tehran remain at a stalemate, with little significant progress in diplomatic efforts.
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A child holds a placard during a rally against U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran outside the Los Angeles City Hall in California, the United States, March 7, 2026. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua)
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that renewed military strikes on Iran were "highly unlikely" as long as negotiations made progress, but did not rule out further military actions. In a phone interview with CNN, Trump claimed that the United States had already dealt a severe blow to Iran and that further military action was "highly unlikely" to be necessary. "It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement," Trump noted, referring to Iran's nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The president also claimed that the United States had identified potential infrastructure targets in Iran, including power plants and bridges, and could destroy 38 bridges in an hour. "Most likely it will not be necessary," Trump reiterated. "They want to make a deal so badly." More than eight months after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, Trump has repeatedly sent mixed signals about his willingness to end the conflict. Washington and Tehran remain at a stalemate, with little significant progress in diplomatic efforts.
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Trump: "Iran militarily is effectively over"
Donald Trump has said "Iran militarily is effectively over", and said that there is "positive momentum" behind negotiations to end the Middle East conflict.
"We're just keeping it the status quo," the US president said on Monday. "And we're doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbours."
Trump's comments came after he met the Qatari prime minister. Qatar is a US ally in the Gulf region, and one of Iran's neighbours, which has been a key mediator in efforts to end the war.
Addressing reporters in the White House press briefing room, Trump said that renewed US attacks on Iran were "highly unlikely" but that the US was "locked and loaded" should the circumstances change.
Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about Trump's prior comments about resolving the conflict.
This is not the first time that Trump has said the Iran war is "militarily" over, but the circumstances for him are different now.
The president has hinted at de-escalation in Iran after a bruising set of midterm election results for the Republicans last week, which senior figures including Vice-President JD Vance blamed on the Iran war.
Ahead of the midterms, Trump had said US forces conducted what he described as "minor strikes" on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz . However, in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, the president said that he did not currently see "any reason" to escalate the conflict.
Responding to a question over why he would not officially declare an end to the war, Trump said that some of the Gulf allies could still face Iranian aggression.
"We have some great allies there and we have to make sure they're not hurt," he said, suggesting that the US naval blockade on Iranian ports was helping to make the region more secure.
Global oil prices, which have fallen sharply since the midterms, dipped further after Trump's comments.
On Tuesday afternoon in Asia, Brent crude was more than 1% lower at $91.50 (£52) while US-traded was down by 1.2% at $85.82.
Could Democrats in Congress end the war in Iran?
Trump hosted Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani in the Oval Office earlier on Monday, saying they had an "excellent conversation" about negotiations to end the war.
In a post on X, the Qatari leader said he held "positive discussions" with Trump and Vance on "reaching a deal and bringing peace to the region".
Efforts to broker a peace between Washington and Tehran have largely been held indirectly through mediators since the war first broke out following joint US-Israeli strikes in February.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are among the US's Gulf allies that have been hit by Iranian strikes over the course of the war, in addition to the threat of strikes that have led to major air travel disruptions in the region.
Republican congressman Thomas Massie plans to force a vote in the House of Representatives this week to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth
Post-election recriminations over the US war in Iran are already placing pressure on members of the Trump administration.
Republican congressman Thomas Massie launched a strong attack against Trump's Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday over the war in Iran, requesting a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach him.
Trump has backed Hegseth, who says he is "not worried" about the looming impeachment threats, calling Massie's effort a "sham".
While the move is unlikely to succeed with Republicans still in control of Congress until January, Democrats have expressed willingness to impeach Hegseth once the new session begins and they have control of both the House and the Senate.
Republican congressman to force impeachment vote on Defence Secretary Hegseth
US offers $20m reward for information about Iran's nuclear programme
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