Trump says US has no immediate plans to strike Iran, ‘getting everything we want’ in negotiations

What Happened

US President Donald Trump said in a Financial Times interview on Tuesday that the United States has no immediate plan to renew strikes against Iran, following a US official's confirmation to The Jerusalem Post on Monday that US strikes hit Iran's Qeshm Island after Tehran claimed to have downed an American drone. Trump said ongoing indirect negotiations with Iran "seem to be getting everything we want," that US forces are "locked and loaded" if strikes become necessary but there may be no reason to reignite military action, and cited Operation Midnight Hammer as having "wiped out their nuclear potential incapacity," adding "We then hit them again, Epic Fury, etc." He added that talks concerning Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium—"under hundreds of tons of rock"—are ongoing but said he is "not happy that it will be there." Iranian officials publicly diverged: a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran and the US are far from reaching a deal, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described a letter from US Vice President JD Vance as a "positive step" toward resuming talks. US and Iranian officials met with Qatari mediators in Doha for a third consecutive day, and Vance said Sunday that there had been "a number of good conversations with the Iranians" and that he and Trump "feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement." Trump also told reporters Monday that he was not considering striking Iran after the midterm elections set to conclude Wednesday morning.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The remarks signal a potential pause in direct US strikes against Iran despite recent Qeshm Island action and the downing of an American drone, while Iran's enriched uranium stockpile remains the central unresolved issue in indirect negotiations. The Qatari channel and the Vance letter suggest a diplomatic track is active even as both sides publicly disagree on progress, with implications for whether prior US operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury are followed by further military action or a settlement.

Watch For

Whether indirect talks in Doha produce concrete terms on Iran's enriched uranium stockpile; any formal Iranian response to the Vance letter; further US strikes or Iranian military actions after the Wednesday midterms, given Trump's statement that he is not considering striking Iran; and possible IAEA or US verification of the state of Iran's nuclear programme following the claimed operations.