Trump says new war with Iran is unlikely if Tehran signs a strong deal

US President Donald Trump said that a return to war with Iran was highly unlikely provided Tehran signs what he called a very strong agreement, according to several Israeli outlets that relayed his remarks to the American broadcaster CNN. N12 reported, citing its correspondent Asaf Rosenzweig, that Trump told CNN renewed strikes on Iran were very unlikely if progress is made in the negotiations, adding that it depended on whether Iran signs a very strong deal.

Alongside the conciliatory line, Trump described the military options he says remain available. Ynet reported that he said the United States had drawn up a list of 38 bridges in Iran that could be brought down within an hour, before adding that he does not like destroying them because rebuilding is hard and takes years. Several outlets also quoted him as saying he has three aircraft carriers ready for action.

What Trump said, in his own words

The fullest version of the remarks circulated on Hebrew-language Telegram channels. According to the account posted by Abu Ali Express, a Telegram channel that follows Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, Trump said further military action against Iran was very likely unnecessary, but that he would act if needed. In that version he said the US had hit Iran very hard, that the country was collapsing economically, and that the US was prepared to act, with three carriers fully armed and ready for combat. He again cited the figure of 38 bridges that he said could be destroyed in a single hour.

The political commentator Amit Segal posted a shorter summary in which Trump said he would rather avoid striking the bridges because it would take a decade to rebuild them, and that three aircraft carriers were fully ready if required. News.co.il carried a similar summary and added a further line attributed to Trump: that he hopes there will be a deal so that civilians do not die, and that otherwise he would blow them up.

The Jerusalem Post framed the interview around the conditional nature of the statement, reporting that Trump said a return to war was highly unlikely if the negotiations produce progress.

A conditional promise, not a commitment

Across the reports, Trump's position is consistently framed as conditional. The outlets differ slightly in how they phrase the condition. Some, including N12 and News.co.il, describe it as progress in the talks. Others, including the Ynet alerts channel and Abu Ali Express, describe it as Iran signing an agreement, with Trump specifying that the deal must be very strong. N12's account contains both elements. None of the reports describe what terms Trump would regard as strong enough.

The language used by the outlets, which speak of a return to war and a renewal of strikes, indicates that the remarks refer to a resumption of earlier hostilities between the United States and Iran rather than a new conflict. The reports themselves do not recount that earlier fighting, and Trump's claims about the damage done to Iran's military and economy are his own and are not independently supported in the material.

Iran's response

Ynet also reported a reaction attributed to Iran's foreign minister, who in its account said that if Iran's demands were met, the other side would see results. The report does not name the minister in its summary or say when or where the comment was made, and none of the other outlets carried an Iranian response.

Who reported it

The remarks reached Israeli audiences largely through fast-moving news channels. Ynet is the website of the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. N12 is the news brand of one of Israel's main commercial television channels. Amit Segal is a political analyst whose Telegram channel is widely followed in Israel. News.co.il and Abu Ali Express publish breaking updates on Telegram. All of them attribute the comments to Trump's CNN interview; none quotes CNN's own transcript.

Where the accounts differ

The reports disagree on one detail of Trump's wording about rebuilding. Ynet quoted him as saying reconstruction of the bridges takes years. Amit Segal and News.co.il quoted him as saying it would take a decade. Because the accounts are translations or paraphrases into Hebrew, it is not possible from the material to say which reflects his exact words.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports identifies which 38 bridges are on the list, where they are, or whether the figure refers to targets formally approved by US military planners. They do not say where the three aircraft carriers are deployed, what stage the negotiations with Tehran have reached, or who is conducting them. No reaction from the Israeli government has been reported, and the Iranian foreign minister's comment rests on a single outlet.