Yasin Güngör
01 March 2026•Update: 02 March 2026
ISTANBUL
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had agreed to hold talks with Iran's new leadership even as US-Israeli strikes on the country continue.
"They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk," Trump told The Atlantic, adding that Iran should have made concessions earlier. "They waited too long," he said.
He later told NBC that Iranian officials "are talking" with the US, without providing any details.
When asked what he hoped the outcome of the operation would be, Trump said there were "many outcomes that are good," including "decapitating them," referring to the Iranian leadership. He said the reason he launched the strikes was straightforward: Iran "wasn't willing to stop their nuclear research" or commit to not developing a nuclear weapon.
On whether he would halt the strikes amid ongoing talks, Trump did not rule out halting strikes on Iran amid ongoing talks. He said he would consider it "if they can satisfy us," but that so far, "they haven't been able to."
In a separate interview, he told Fox News that 48 Iranian leaders had been eliminated "in one shot," saying "nobody can believe the success we're having." He added that the US knew how many targets remained and that operations were moving "rapidly."
Speaking to CNBC, Trump said military operations were "ahead of schedule."
On casualties, Trump told NBC News: "We expect casualties with something like this ... We have three, but we expect casualties, but in the end, it's going to be a great deal for the world."
On concerns about oil prices and potential disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping lane, he was dismissive. "I'm not concerned about anything," he said. "I just do what's right. At the end, it works out," he told Fox News. "This could have been a huge price increase with respect to oil, if things went wrong," he told The Atlantic.
The remarks came as the attack on Iran entered its second day. The joint US-Israeli operation, launched Saturday, has killed several senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Gulf countries. Three US service members have been killed and five seriously wounded since operations began, US Central Command said.
