Washington (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump ruled out renewed fighting with Iran, in statements he made to CNN, ahead of his meeting on Monday with the Prime Minister of Qatar, which plays the role of mediator to end the war.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 09:11

Trump threatened to resume strikes on targets in the Islamic Republic in recent weeks, and American media reported that the attacks may resume after the mid-term presidential elections that took place on Tuesday.

But the president told CNN in an interview on Sunday that a resumption of war was "highly unlikely," but he added, "I will do so if necessary, but we have dealt them very harsh blows."

However, he stressed that any decision to resume military operations "depends on whether they will sign a good agreement or not."

Trump is scheduled to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also holds the position of Foreign Minister, at the White House on Monday.

This will be Trump's first meeting with a foreign official since the resounding loss that his Republican Party suffered in the midterm elections, in which it lost its control of Congress.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi indicated on Sunday that peace talks had been halted while the political ramifications of the US elections were being assessed.

Araqchi told Iranian state television, "The mediators' work has stopped, and the reason for this is the shock that the results of the American elections left for everyone. It will take some time before the atmosphere becomes suitable for the mediators to resume their work, so we must be patient."

"We now have to see how long it will take them to digest these results, in order to determine how to move forward," he added.

"They are fed up"

Trump acknowledged that the war with Iran, which began with US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic in late February, was at least partially responsible for the Republican defeat.

Araqchi said on Monday that the US President "clearly realizes that the overwhelming majority of the American people strongly hate Israel."

He added in statements on the “X” platform, “It is clear that the Americans are tired of Israel deceiving the American governments and pushing them towards endless wars, and they can no longer tolerate it, and the same applies to our region.”

In his interview with CNN on Sunday, Trump indicated again that economic pressure on Iran would force its leaders to accept Washington's conditions.

He said, "It is a failed state. This appeared recently and you saw this year that the inflation rate reached 301 percent. They are falling apart financially. We struck them militarily and we can eliminate them completely."

Iranian official figures put inflation at around 90 percent year-on-year in September.

On the other hand, Iranian television reported that Qeshm Island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, was attacked on Sunday night, hours after the official IRNA news agency announced two explosions there.

Several regional powers, including Qatar and Pakistan, have been seeking for months to put an end to the Middle East war, but to no avail.

While the fighting has largely subsided, Iran still adheres to imposing restrictions on shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital corridor for global energy supplies, while the US Navy imposes a blockade on Iranian ports in response.

© 2026 AFP

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