"I just don't want them to have nuclear weapons, and they can't be threatening us. And with all of everything that's going on, and I'm not one that believes -- you know, I'm not somebody that wants to go into war, because war hurts economies, war kills people most importantly -- by far most importantly," Trump told Fox News on Sunday.
"I don’t want to fight. But you do have situations like Iran, you can’t let them have nuclear weapons -- you just can’t let that happen," he added.
In the past month, the Trump administration has attempted to use a combination of hawkish rhetoric, diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions and now military posturing in order to bring Iran to the negotiating table and sign a new nuclear deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently ruled out any prospect of negotiation with the United States, calling the Washington regime a “bully” trying to force all others into acting illegally.
In early May, the US deployed warships and warplanes to the Middle East.
Tensions escalated even further after an incident with four tankers off the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, with US investigators reportedly blaming Iran.
No evidence of Iran's role has emerged and Tehran has called for an investigation.
Iran has condemned the attack as "dreadful" and a lawmaker said Iranian suspicions fell on Israel.