US President Donald Trump has again predicted that the war with Iran will end soon, expressing confidence that oil prices will fall sharply once the conflict concludes. However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that military action will not force Tehran into submission.
“The Iran war will end very soon … Soon, as they want it to end,” Trump told reporters in Montana. “They’ll never have a nuclear weapon, and oil prices will drop like a rock.”
According to Anadolu Agency, Trump also expressed uncertainty about which Iranian officials Washington was negotiating with.
“They don’t have a navy. They don’t have an air force. Their army is decimated. Their leaders are gone,” Trump said. “I should have probably left their leaders because I don’t know who the hell we’re negotiating with.”
Describing Iran as a diminished regional power, Trump said the country was no longer the dominant force it had once been in the Middle East.
He also claimed that US strikes had destroyed Iran’s naval fleet and rendered its military aircraft unusable. Trump said Iran had 159 ships and asserted that none remained operational. He further claimed that Iranian fighter jets had been destroyed on the country’s runways.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in Tehran that military action could not force a country into submission, stressing the need to strengthen national unity and cohesion, Al Jazeera reported.
He said Iran was facing its most severe blockade since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and accused the United States of attempting to provoke public unrest by worsening economic and social conditions.
“Over the 48 years since the Revolution, we have never faced such intense blockade, war and difficulties as we are facing now,” Pezeshkian said in a speech broadcast on state television.
He alleged that Washington was seeking to increase hardship among the Iranian population to fuel public anger and trigger protests.
Pezeshkian said the US was focusing on making “the people become upset and face difficulties, and then for social protests to emerge so that they can achieve their sinister objectives”.
Separately, the United States is considering deploying the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), commonly known as the “Mother of All Bombs”, against Iran if Trump decides to resume military operations amid the stalemate, CNN reported on Thursday.
According to the report, US military planners are assessing the possible use of the weapon against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear facilities. The report cited officials familiar with the discussions.
“The MOAB is a massive information operation type weapon that is great for huge area clearance but not much else,” a source familiar with the plans told CNN. “It is definitely not designed as a deep penetration warhead.”
The potential escalation comes as Trump faces pressure ahead of November’s midterm elections. Opinion polls have indicated that opposition to the war and rising fuel and other prices are creating difficulties for his Republican Party.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have remained stalled since the summer. In recent weeks, Washington has scaled back military operations while placing greater emphasis on economic pressure against Tehran.
However, officials have questioned whether the MOAB would be effective against suspected underground nuclear facilities in Iran. Concerns have also been raised about the risk of civilian casualties due to the weapon’s extensive destructive capacity.
