Trump Says Gulf States Asked Him to Hold Back Further Iran Strikes

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a November 12 interview with commentator Stephen A. Smith that five Gulf governments had asked him to hold back further military escalation against Iran. He named Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and said he was accommodating their request. Trump expressed doubt about whether waiting was the right approach. Asked whether he would otherwise have already intensified the military campaign, he said he would. He included Israel among the countries the United States was seeking to protect, alongside its Gulf partners. Discussing potential targets, Trump claimed that much of Iran’s bridge network, energy infrastructure and manufacturing capacity remained available to strike. He said one large bridge had been hit and claimed the remaining sectors could be destroyed in three days, with a day devoted to each. “It would only take me three days,” Trump said. He also raised the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, saying an attack was possible if activity there warranted it. Trump acknowledged that the war’s effect on gasoline and oil prices had made the short-term political situation more difficult for Republicans. He defended those costs as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and described Iran’s leadership as hostile to both the United States and Israel.