President Donald Trump told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst that “very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future” on Iran, and posed a stark question about how far he might go: “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up?”
Yingst reported on Fox & Friends Weekend Sunday morning that he had just spoken with the president and relayed the substance of their conversation to viewers. According to Yingst, Trump said he is in a “deciding mode” and described the options before him as “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal.” The president added a warning for Tehran: “They better behave.”
The comments echo remarks Trump made to Axios’s Barak Ravid on Thursday, when he said, “Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not?”
Trump is set to attend the United Nations General Assembly later this week, as is Iranian President Pasoud Pezeshkian. Yingst asked the president whether he would be open to meeting the Iranian leader, and Trump answered “probably.”
Yingst said Trump described this weekend as no different from any other weekend, despite alerts that went out to U.S. citizens across the region. The correspondent stressed that there are many moving parts in the situation. He pointed to the standoff with Iran and the ongoing U.S. naval blockade, and also to attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who targeted Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles the day before.
On the Houthis, Yingst said the president told him the United States is in constant communication with the group and that they have agreed not to fight the United States.
The president’s remarks lay out a wide range of possibilities on Iran, from a military strike to economic pressure to a negotiated agreement. Trump made clear that he has not settled on a course, saying he is in a deciding mode, while signaling that major developments could come in the not-so-distant future.
The possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Pezeshkian at the U.N. gathering adds another dimension to the picture. Trump’s one-word answer of “probably” suggests he is not ruling out direct talks, even as he weighs the option of wiping Iran out.
Yingst’s report also underscored the volatile backdrop against which the president is making his decision. The blockade remains in place, the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia are fresh, and the alerts sent to Americans in the region remain a factor, even as Trump characterized the weekend as business as usual.
Taken together, the president’s comments to Fox News and his earlier remarks to Axios show a leader openly discussing severe options on Iran while leaving the door open to diplomacy. For now, according to Trump, the decision is still to be made, and very big things, in his words, are on the way.
