Trump: Do I make a deal with Iran or ‘finish them off’?

By Lazar Berman

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Today, 5:06 pm

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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

US President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club, October 17, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

US President Donald Trump says he is facing a crucial decision on Iran.

“Do I make a deal with them or do I finish them off?” he tells Fox News. “That’s the only question.”

“We now control the Hormuz Strait,” Trump continues, referring to the critical pathway for the global oil and gas supply, which Iran has sought to obstruct since the beginning of the war in late February. “We get everything, they get nothing.”

Trump says that the US knows “exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe Mountain,” referring to a key Iranian nuclear site that hasn’t been attacked. “We can read the badge on somebody’s shirt.”