The US president said he had called off an attack against Iran in response to the shooting down of an American drone because he “didn’t think it was proportionate”.
Yet Mr Trump also said the US military had identified Iranian targets for air strikes. “I have so many targets you wouldn’t believe … We have targets all over,” he told interviewer Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“I’m not looking for war and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that."
Mr Trump dismissed European leaders’ efforts to uphold the Iranian nuclear deal forged between world powers in 2015.