Trump trades Iran’s annihilation for economic pressure: ‘We are low-keying it’

Published August 9, 2026 2:18pm ET



President Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that he is moving away from threatening military force in favor of applying economic pressure on Iran to end the war.

“We are low-keying it,” he told Axios on a brief phone call. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”

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