{"id":579851,"date":"2026-08-09T22:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/579851\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T22:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:50:13","slug":"trump-says-us-low-keying-iran-conflict-giving-economic-pressure-time-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/579851\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says US ‘low-keying’ Iran conflict, giving economic pressure time to work"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was \u201clow-keying\u201d its approach to Iran and only \u201csemi-negotiating\u201d with the Islamic Republic, as it suffers in dire economic straits.<\/p>\n

The remarks, made in a brief phone interview with Barak Ravid of Channel 12 and Axios<\/a>, signaled Trump was forgoing a military strike on Iran and instead preparing to let the mounting economic pressure take its toll.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments came after Iran on Saturday laid out drastic new conditions<\/a> for lifting the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about one-fifth of the world\u2019s commercial oil shipments until the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n

A separate report<\/a> on Sunday said Trump was preparing to declare victory in the war as long as the strait reopens, even without a deal to secure the end of Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Meanwhile, Tehran doubled down on its demands, and denied holding any direct talks with the US.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s new demands stymied mediators\u2019 hopes last week that Iran, Oman, and the US would announce a deal to reopen the key waterway, Ravid reported. Trump himself had threatened massive military strikes on Iran only to backtrack at the start of last week, citing a breakthrough in talks.<\/p>\n

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Nonetheless, according to Ravid, Trump in the phone interview did not threaten Iran or rail against it for holding up the deal, which would give Iran unprecedented control over maritime traffic in the strait.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA man waves an Iranian flag for a pro-government campaign under a billboard with a graphic showing the Strait of Hormuz and the sewn lips of US President Donald Trump, in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/ Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

Speaking to Ravid, Trump said, \u201cWe are low-keying it,\u201d in the talks with Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will work out. It always works out. It\u2019s like a chess game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump claimed Iran\u2019s regime was \u201cin very bad shape\u201d financially, with insufficient funds to pay soldiers, and that the US naval blockade on Iran-linked shipping made the Islamic Republic\u2019s economic crisis even worse, according to Ravid.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Trump noted that oil prices, which hiked to over $100 a barrel after Iran shut Hormuz early in the war, have since dropped to about $75, easing the weight of the war on US consumers.<\/p>\n

US officials cited in the report said Trump had been convinced since last week to de-escalate the war, with one official saying the halt in the fighting forces Iran to confront its domestic economic crisis.<\/p>\n

As has been reported<\/a> elsewhere, the officials cited disagreements within Iran between a camp led by President Masoud Pezeshkian, which supports a deal to avoid economic collapse, and a camp led by Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Ahmad Vahidi, which opposes concessions to the US.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian addresses cabinet members as they visit the tomb of the Islamic Republic\u2019s founding supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, in Tehran, Iran, on January 31, 2026. (Handout\/Iranian Presidency\/AFP)<\/p>\n

Both sides claim the support<\/a> of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since reportedly being wounded in the strike that killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s office claimed he recently met with Pezeshkian \u201cat the start of his third year in the presidency\u201d and the two \u201cdiscussed in detail the country\u2019s issues and problems,\u201d including the \u201ccurrent military situation and future prospects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pezeshkian, who took office in July 2024, had said in early May that he met with Khamenei, also without specifying the date, but the supreme leader\u2019s office did not issue any statements at the time.<\/p>\n

The president had said on Wednesday that communication with Khamenei was \u201cvery difficult at the moment,\u201d amid speculation about the supreme leader\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA man holds a picture of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque, during funeral ceremonies for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family, in Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2026. (AP\/Altaf Qadri)<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei has remained in hiding since becoming supreme leader after his father\u2019s death. To avoid being targeted, he reportedly communicates with other senior regime figures via a slow array of intermediaries. Khamenei has produced no recordings, though Iranian state media has published written statements attributed to him.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Iran\u2019s semi-official Tasnim news agency cited an IRGC general as saying images of Khamenei among people and in meetings would be published \u201cin the future.\u201d The general did not offer a timeline.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was \u201clow-keying\u201d its approach to Iran and only \u201csemi-negotiating\u201d with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[190507,54,42,29157,159370,43,114994,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-579851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-2026-us-israel-war-with-iran","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-masoud-pezeshkian","tag-mojtaba-khamenei","tag-news","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}