US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US could "leave the Iran operation right now and still leave Tehran unable to rebuild for more than a decade," but explained that that's "not an acceptable situation."
“If we left right now, it would take them at least 10 years to rebuild, but rebuild they will,” Trump said in the roughly 15-minute call with CNBC. “If we stay longer, they’ll never rebuild,” he added.
Trump additionally shared that the US and Israel have “largely similar” goals for the outcome of military operations in Iran. “The difference is, they live right next door. We don’t. That’s a big difference,” he said.
Later on Friday, while speaking to reporters while leaving the White House, Trump stated that he believes that Israel will be ready to end the war when the US is ready to do so.
He also stated that he does not want a ceasefire with Iran, but may be willing to engage in dialog with the Iranian regime. “We can have a dialogue, but I don't want to do a ceasefire. You know, you don't do a ceasefire when you're obliterating the other side," he said.
When asked by a reporter over the situation on the Strait, Trump said, "It's a simple military maneuver, it's relatively safe, but you need a lot of help in the sense that you need ships, you need volume."
"NATO could help us, but they so far haven't had the courage to do so... it would be nice if the countries, including China, if the countries that use it... would get involved," he added.
Bloomberg: Iranian officials unwilling to discuss reopening Strait of Hormuz
Also on Friday, Bloomberg reported that Iranian officials are unwilling to even discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz, citing a person involved in direct, high-level contacts with Tehran.
According to the report, Iranian officials are now focused on surviving ongoing Israeli and American operations against the regime.
In addition, the strikes on critical infrastructure and the Iranian leadership are only slowing negotiations to reopen the Strait, the source said.