Trump Says He Must Choose Between an Iran Deal and Finishing the War

President Trump said on Sunday that he faces a choice between reaching an agreement with Iran and using force to end the eight-month conflict outright, adding to uncertainty in a region already braced for the possibility of renewed fighting.

Speaking on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Mr. Trump described the decision in stark terms, asking aloud whether he should make a deal with Iran or finish it off, according to CBS News. Bloomberg News reported that he also called the military option easy and said it was getting to be decision time, remarks the paper could not independently confirm. CBS News reported that he also told reporters later in the day that there would be no strike that day.

The United States and Israel began the war against Iran on Feb. 28. A Pakistan- and Qatar-brokered arrangement in June was meant to reopen shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, end a United States naval blockade of Iranian ports and open talks on a broader settlement, but it unraveled as both sides traded attacks again.

Diplomacy has not stopped entirely. Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran on Sunday in coordination with Washington, according to CBS News and NBC News. Esmail Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said direct talks had stalled but that messages were still being passed to the United States through intermediaries. He complained that American officials keep using the phrase “complete surrender,” which he said no Iranian would accept.

Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan were also set to meet Iranian leaders in Tehran in an effort to head off a return to large-scale fighting, both outlets reported.

The military picture has shifted in both directions. The United States has sent a third aircraft carrier group toward the region, Australian Associated Press reported early this month, while reducing some diplomatic and military staffing in parts of the Middle East, according to CBS News. Mr. Trump has suggested that any new strikes would come after the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States.

Supporters of the president’s approach argue that a credible threat of force is what brings Tehran to the table, and Bloomberg News reported that officials it spoke with still see a negotiated agreement as the most likely way the conflict ends, a report the paper could not independently confirm. Critics counter that open-ended threats, timed around an American election, make miscalculation more likely and leave allies and markets guessing.

The diplomatic calendar is crowded. Israel holds a national election on Tuesday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Iran or its allies could attack before the vote, according to NBC News. Israel’s defense minister said Israel had no intention of striking Iran before its election.

For now, the choice Mr. Trump described remains unmade, and both governments say the window for talks has not closed.