President Donald Trump outlined three potential strategies for dealing with Iran, ranging from maintaining current economic pressure to direct military action, while claiming that the United States controls Iranian assets and functions as the country's "banker."
According to Trump's statements, the current approach involves allowing Iran's economic collapse to proceed unchecked. "Just bop along and look how bad they're doing, because they've got 300% inflation," Trump said, noting that Iran's currency has lost nearly all value and soldiers are going unpaid.
"So just keep that going because that's not sustainable," Trump said of the first strategy. The second option, according to Trump, would be to "hit them really, really hard," referring to military action. A third approach would involve intensified economic measures, though Trump suggested these are already underway.
"So economically, they are a mess. They can't borrow money. We control their money, what they had, which is a lot," Trump said. "I'm their banker."
Trump's comments come as negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled. Iran's Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi has previously insisted that reopening the critical waterway is contingent on U.S. compensation for alleged violations of a memorandum of understanding.
Trump denied previous U.S. responsibility in the negotiations, maintaining that the Strait of Hormuz remains open despite Iranian claims to the contrary.
