US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was “low-keying” its approach to Iran and only “semi-negotiating” with the Islamic Republic, as it suffers in dire economic straits.

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

Trump’s comments came after Iran on Saturday laid out drastic new conditions for lifting the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about one-fifth of the world’s commercial oil shipments until the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.

A separate report 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’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, Tehran doubled down on its demands, and denied holding any direct talks with the US.

Iran’s new demands stymied mediators’ 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.

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.

Speaking to Ravid, Trump said, “We are low-keying it,” in the talks with Tehran.

“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran........

© The Times of Israel