This article was originally published in Common Dreams under Creative Commons 3.0 license. Read the original article. Contact: editor@commondreams.org

By Brett Wilkins

Three days after saying that he’s weighing whether or not to “annihilate” Iran in a bid to end his increasingly unpopular and protracted war against the Middle Eastern nation, US President Donald Trump on Sunday again said that he is deciding if he should destroy the entire country of over 90 million people.

Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported he “just spoke with President Trump about the situation with Iran” and that the US leader said he’s “in a deciding mode and that very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future.”

Trump said he is considering three strategies for ending the 204-day war: “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically, or making a deal.”

“My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up, they better behave,” Trump added, according to Yingst.

See also: Trump Signs Russia-Iran Sanctions Bill, Putting New Pressure Tools At His Disposal

On Saturday, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Al Jazeera that Tehran has conveyed its conditions for ending the war to Qatari mediators and is “awaiting President Trump’s response.”

Iran’s military responded to Trump’s latest threat by warning US allies Sunday that they will be considered “complicit” if American strikes resume, vowing “painful attacks” in retaliation.

Trump—who has been threatening to destroy Iran since at least 2019—is facing pressure on multiple fronts to end his highly unpopular and illegal war of choice, in which at least 23 US troops have died and tens of thousands of Iranians have been killed or wounded.

Americans are feeling the pain of higher consumer prices, especially for gasoline and diesel fuel, for a war that many say is making the country less safe. Six in 10 US voters queried in a new Fox News poll said Trump was wrong to wage war on Iran, while 7 in 10 respondents believe that his administration has no clear strategy for ending the conflict.

Republican lawmakers are also increasingly expressing dissatisfaction with the war and distancing themselves from the conflict ahead of November’s midterm elections, with some going as far as helping to pass a war powers resolution directing Trump to withdraw US forces from hostilities with Iran, and one—outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky—supporting the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

[KS]

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