Trump says Iran ‘most serious’ yet in talks, but has not decided on major strikes

President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran is showing its strongest commitment yet in negotiations with the United States but said he has not decided whether to launch major military strikes against the country.

“We’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious as the days go by, for maybe the obvious reason,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“I think they’re being serious. I think they are being by far the most serious that we’ve seen them,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we get there. We’ll see what happens.”

Asked whether he had decided to launch major strikes against Iran, Trump replied: “No, I haven’t.”

“We can take that to a much higher level if we want to, we’re prepared to do that…We’re locked and loaded and ready to go,” he said.

“There are two ways. I consider that the smarter way, but the other is probably the easier way,” Trump added, referring to diplomacy and military action.