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U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Monday that he does not believe the war with Iran "will be long," and he deliberately avoided striking oil pipelines on Kharg Island because of how long they take to rebuild.
He also declined to publicly discuss whether American troops could be deployed on the ground in Iran.
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Speaking in a brief phone call with PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Liz Landers, Trump offered an overall assessment of Operation Epic Fury.
"We're doing very well," he said, reiterating his earlier comments about destroying Iran's military capacity.
"They want to make a deal but they're not ready to make a deal in my opinion," he added.
On the U.S. strikes on Kharg Island, Trump said: "Kharg Island is out of commission except for the pipes, which I left. I didn't want to hit the pipes because, you know, it's years of work to put them together."
He said he kept a deliberate buffer around oil infrastructure. "Didn't even come close," Trump said, adding that he purposefully left "100 yards" around "anything having to do with oil" at the site. He also said he would strike the island again if necessary.
"I'll knock the hell out of it," he stated.
He applied the same logic to Tehran's civilian infrastructure.
"I left a lot of infrastructure in Tehran because if you did it, it's years of building. I could knock out the electric plants in one hour... but if I do that, that's years of rebuilding and it's trauma. So I'm trying to hold off on that kind of thing," Trump noted.
Trump stated that the conflict represents "a very small price to pay" given years of what he described as "terror from the Iranian regime," and predicted a rapid fall in oil prices once hostilities end.
"The oil prices will drop like a rock as soon as it's over," he said. Asked for a timeline, Trump said, "Well, as soon as the war is over. I don't believe it will be long."
Asked whether American troops could be deployed on the ground in Iran, Trump declined to answer directly.
"I don't wanna say that," he said. When asked if his thinking on the matter had changed, Trump said, "No, it's not changed", but added he simply did not want to discuss strategy with a reporter.
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