Washington, July 27 (SANA)PresidentDonald Trumpsaid Monday he is prepared for “strong military action” against Iran if negotiations fail, after deciding to temporarily suspend military strikes, according to an interview with Axios.

Trump said his administration “will not give the negotiations with Iran a long time,” noting that the ongoing talks are “deep” but will not continue indefinitely. “Either things move quickly or they don’t move at all,” he said.

The president revealed that he had halted strikes after mediators asked him to give negotiations an additional chance. “We didn’t gain anything and we didn’t lose anything,” he said.

Trump warned that failure of the diplomatic path would lead to the resumption of confrontation and a return to war with greater intensity.

Axios reported Sunday that Trump had directed the U.S. military not to carry out any new attacks on Iran to allow room for diplomatic efforts. The White House said the temporary halt in strikes aims to give diplomatic efforts a chance to succeed.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz have also expressed openness to a diplomatic solution with Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal. Waltz added, however, that “we will not be giving our adversaries a ‘timeout’ to regroup and rearm,” according to the New York Times.

The administration is insisting on “deep and meaningful concessions on their nuclear program and ending their malign activities in the region,” including the release of American detainees and full cooperation with the IAEA.

The temporary ceasefire comes afterIransuffered severe losses from U.S. strikes, including the destruction of its naval surveillance infrastructure and damage to its nuclear program.