The United States called off retaliatory airstrikes on Iran on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump said that he would not put "boots on the ground" should the US decide to take military action against Iran, adding that there is "unlimited time" to try to forge an agreement with Tehran.
Iran suggested it was one day away from breaching a limit in the 2015 nuclear deal that restricted its stockpile of uranium, a move that would pressure European countries to pick a side in the disagreement.
The fate of the multilateral nuclear deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, has been at the heart of the US-Iran dispute which took on a new dimension in recent weeks.
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Last week, Iran shot down a US drone it claimed was in its air space, which Washington later denied. Trump called off retaliatory airstrikes at the last minute, saying too many people would have died. Washington also accused Tehran or its proxies of attacks in May and June on six tankers in the Gulf region, which Iran denied as well.
Asked on Fox Business Network if a war was brewing, Trump replied: "I hope we don't but we're in a very strong position if something should happen."
"I'm not talking boots on the ground," Trump said. "I'm just saying if something would happen, it wouldn't last very long."
Speaking later at a gathering of conservatives, the US president talked about whether there could be a new agreement with Iran, suggesting he could live without one.
"If it doesn't happen, that's fine with me," Trump said. "I have unlimited time, as far as I'm concerned."
Trump last year unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran struck by his former President Barack Obama, since the deal was unable to restrict Iran's nuclear and missile programs and other terror-related activities in the Middle East.
He has since re-imposed US economic sanctions on Iran, including trying to drive Iran's oil exports to zero. On Wednesday, Iran warned the UN Security Council that it would no longer be burdened with preserving the pact, originally struck by Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States. European states pushed Tehran to stick with the agreement because currently, there is no peaceful alternative.
"Iran alone cannot, shall not and will not take all of the burdens any more to preserve the JCPOA," Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi told the 15-member Security Council, noting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. US allies warn that an increase in tensions could accidentally lead to war.
However, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that Iran and world powers including the United States who struck the nuclear pact must to find a way to resume the talks.
"I believe the escalation, sanctions on top of sanctions, provocations, the military build-up, is extremely dangerous because it could ignite the region, it could lead to over-reactions," he told Japanese broadcaster NHK before a G20 summit in Osaka.
"When confidence is lost, you need little gestures to reduce tensions."
Over the past few weeks Iran has set a number of deadlines for European countries to protect its economy from the impact of US sanctions or see Tehran reduce compliance with the deal.
A spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said that one of those deadlines would expire on Thursday, with Iran exceeding a limit imposed under the deal to keep its stockpile of enriched uranium below 300 kg (660 lb).
The IRIB news agency quoted spokesman Behrouz Kamalvindi as saying that after the deadline Iran would speed up its rate of producing the material.
Another threshold bars Iran from enriching uranium to a purity beyond 3.67% of its fissile material. It has set a deadline of July 7, which it could also breach.
European nations have tried to save the deal by maintaining some of its economic benefits despite the US sanctions. So far such efforts have failed, and major European companies have canceled plans to invest.
On Thursday, senior British, French, German and US diplomats will meet in Paris. On Friday, senior officials from the six nations still part of the deal will gather in Vienna for talks that may explore whether it can be salvaged through diplomacy.
