Trump on the Possibility of War with the Iranian Government: Anything Could Happen

Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, did not rule out the possibility of war with the Iranian government in an interview with Time magazine. In this interview published on Thursday, December 13, on the occasion of his reelection as 'Person of the Year,' Trump responded to Time's question about the Islamic Republic's conspiracy to assassinate him and the likelihood of war between the United States and Iran during his second presidential term, saying twice: 'Anything could happen.' This interview, conducted on November 26 at his personal residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, also addressed reports regarding Elon Musk's meeting with Iranian officials and whether Musk did so at his behest, to which he replied: 'I don't know that he met with them.' Trump further noted that at the end of his first presidential term, the Islamic Republic was 'not very dangerous' because, according to him, the government had no money to give to Hamas and Hezbollah. He described the situation of the Russia-Ukraine war as 'very unstable' and Zelensky's decision to 'fire missiles at Russia' as a 'major escalation' of tensions and a 'foolish' action. The New York Times reported on Thursday, November 15, that Elon Musk met with the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, November 13. In its report by Farnaz Fasihi, citing two Iranian officials, the meeting aimed to explore ways to reduce tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States. Following the publication of this news, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, appeared on a television program on Saturday, November 17, denying all reports about the meeting between the Iranian representative at the UN and Elon Musk, calling it 'fabrication.' The U.S. Department of Justice released details on Friday, November 10, regarding an indictment related to thwarting an Islamic Republic conspiracy to assassinate Donald Trump before the presidential election. According to the criminal indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan, New York, an anonymous official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had ordered one of Iran's operatives in September to prepare a plan to monitor and ultimately assassinate Trump. The Iranian Foreign Ministry described the U.S. accusations regarding Tehran's conspiracy to assassinate Donald Trump as 'completely unfounded.' This denial of Iran's involvement in the conspiracy comes despite Iranian officials repeatedly threatening to take 'revenge' for the killing of Qassem Soleimani by any means. Ali Shamkhani, the then Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, stated during those days that Iran's 'response' to Soleimani's killing would 'certainly be military but is not limited to military actions.' Trump, during his first presidential term and under the 'maximum pressure' policy, ordered the attack that led to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, in 2019. Prior to that, in 2018, he withdrew from the nuclear deal (JCPOA) and reimposed U.S. economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic that had been reduced following this agreement.