US President Donald Trump said Monday he is considering reviving “Project Freedom,” but warned that guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz would be only one component of a “larger military operation” this time.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said Iran’s “hardline leaders” would ultimately back down.
“They’re going to fold,” he said.
Asked whether he could work with Iran‘s current leadership, Trump said: “I will deal with them until they make a deal.”
Trump also claimed Iranian negotiators told him Tehran lacks the technology to clean up radioactive material at its destroyed nuclear sites and that the US would need to retrieve the “nuclear dust.”
The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering retaliation from Tehran against Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, alongside the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. The truce was later extended by Trump without a set deadline.
On Sunday, Iran sent Pakistan its response to a US proposal aimed at ending the war, but Trump dismissed it as “totally unacceptable.”
