Trump Expects Iran Talks to Resume This Week

President Donald Trump said on Sept. 27 that he expects talks with Iran to resume this week, while declining to rule out military strikes before the U.S. midterm elections.

Last week, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for resuming nuclear talks with Washington. Trump rejected the proposal.

The president told Axios in a phone interview that the proposal did not meet his expectations.

“I expect more talks with Iran [this week]. They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago,” he said. “They overplayed their hand.”

In a separate interview with Fox News on Sept. 27, Trump said he believes the United States is “very soon” going to win the war against Iran through both military and economic fronts, with the goal of ensuring that Tehran cannot develop a nuclear weapon.

“I think we’ll win it both ways. We’ve already won it from a military standpoint, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped that,” he said. “If you look at their economy, it’s gone. They have no economy.”

When asked if military strikes on Iran were still an option before the midterms, Trump told Fox News: “I don’t want to say that. I mean, it’s possible, but I just don’t want to say that.”

This story is developing and will be updated.