US President Donald Trump has said it is “highly unlikely” that he will order renewed military action against Iran if negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz make progress.

Axar.az reports, citing CNN, that Trump said: “It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement."

“The answer is highly unlikely it’s going to be necessary,” he said, “They’re withering away financially. We’ve hit them militarily. We could finish them off.”

However, he warned that he was prepared to resume military action if necessary.

“We’re ready for it. I’ve got three aircraft carriers here. The other one just arrived. We have three. They’re fully locked and loaded,” he said.

Trump also said the US had identified infrastructure targets in Iran, including power plants and bridges, that could be struck if hostilities resumed.

“We have 38 bridges in our site that we can knock down in literally one hour. They’ll all be down,” he said.

At the same time, he said he would prefer not to destroy Iranian infrastructure.

“I don’t want to do that because essentially, it’ll take 10 years to rebuild them,” Trump said. “I don’t like ripping down bridges. And the hardest thing to build is a bridge. It takes years, and I’m a good builder.”

Asked about Iran’s military capabilities, Trump claimed that its air defences had been destroyed and that the country retained only a fraction of its missile and drone capabilities.

“The only thing they can do is about 10% level — make some missiles and make some drones. Drones at about 15% because much of their factories are gone,” he said.