Trump Says U.S. Is 'Low Keying' Iran as Economic Pressure Mounts

President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States is "low keying" its approach to Iran, signaling he is prepared for now to let mounting economic pressure squeeze Tehran rather than launch another major military offensive. "We are low keying it," Trump said in a brief phone interview with Axios. "We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money." Trump said Iran is "in very bad shape" economically and lacks the money to pay its troops, pointing to the U.S. naval blockade as further intensifying the regime's economic crisis. At the same time, the president noted that oil prices have fallen to just above $75 a barrel, reducing the conflict's economic impact on American consumers as Washington waits to see whether Tehran will bend. "It will work out. It always works out. It's like a chess game," Trump told the outlet. The comments mark a notably measured posture from Trump just one week after he was considering a return to major combat operations against Iran. Axios reported that the president ultimately decided against another major escalation for now, with one U.S. official arguing that active fighting allows the Iranian regime to avoid confronting the consequences of the war, including widespread infrastructure damage and a deepening economic crisis. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Trump has privately floated to senior aides the possibility of declaring victory in the conflict even without securing a new nuclear agreement if Iran's nuclear program remains contained and the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens. Trump has told senior officials he believes Tehran is unlikely to be able to revive its nuclear program during his presidency following the destruction of its three primary nuclear sites and that U.S. intelligence would detect an effort to rebuild the facilities or covertly develop a nuclear weapon, according to the Journal. The outlet quoted a White House official as saying the United States has "completed all of its military objectives against Iran" and that Trump is now focused on "securing the flow of the world's energy through the Strait of Hormuz," while keeping military options available should Tehran continue targeting ships. Trump similarly said Thursday that the U.S. naval blockade had left Hormuz "sort of open right now," while acknowledging that Iran retained the ability to attack vessels with missiles, drones and mines. But Tehran has hardened its demands over the strategic waterway even as negotiations with Oman continue over an interim maritime arrangement. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, then-secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, declared Saturday that Hormuz would remain closed until Washington "corrects its behavior," while laying out sweeping demands that the United States end military action against Iran and its regional allies, lift its naval blockade, withdraw forces from around Iran, lift sanctions, release frozen Iranian assets and compensate Tehran for war damages. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that negotiations with Oman over new maritime routes were in their "final stages," but insisted an agreement on those arrangements would not itself reopen the strait. Araghchi said Tehran and Washington were not directly negotiating and were instead exchanging messages through intermediaries. Former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei, who led the Guards from 1981 to 1997, was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the powerful body at the center of Iran's national-security and war policy, replacing Zolghadr. Zolghadr, himself a veteran IRGC commander, was moved into another senior position as Khamenei's political adviser. Despite the absence of a broader Hormuz agreement, roughly eight million barrels of oil are now leaving the Gulf each night through the strait's southern lane in coordination with the U.S. military, according to a U.S. official cited by Axios, with Washington seeking to increase that flow.