He remarked Sunday that it is "highly unlikely" he will need to order US forces to war with Iran as long as there is progress in negotiations. Indirect talks are curretnly happening via Qatari and Gulf mediation.

Washington is seeking to focus the talks on Iran's nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, even while Iran's IRGC forces continue to mount daily attacks on international shipping, via drones and sea mines. Tehran is meanwhile demanding the US concede to its seven conditions, which includes dropping sanctions, ending the US naval blockade, and even war reparations.

CNN says that in a phone interview Trump actually made the point about being "unlikely" attack Iran again some five times.

"It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement," Trump told CNN's Jim Sciutto in a phone interview. Then the president explained:

"The answer is highly unlikely it's going to be necessary. They're a failing nation. It just came out, you saw this year, 301% inflation. Highly unlikely it will be necessary. I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don't know how hard I hit them."

He then went on to repeat in the 20-minute interview, "So it's highly unlikely I'll have to. They're withering away financially. We've hit them militarily. We could finish them off."

This and other recent statements, also from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have expressed Washington's continued desire to see the Iranian government implode from within.

While the economy is indeed being decimated, and with common Iranians struggling amid a currency collapse and runaway inflation, there's a likelihood that the wartime situation could just perist for many years to come.

Syria is an example of an entire society under seige, ravaged by proxy war, its economy in ruins by years of sanctions - and yet the Assad government still managed to last for nearly 14 years. And this was with the Western/Gulf axis having had proxy forces on the ground, concentrated heavily in Idlib, and even with a US military occupation in the northest of the country.