Trump claims US controls Iranian money

President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that the US has "total control" over Iran's money, with Washington effectively acting as Tehran's banker as the two countries remain locked in a military conflict.

"We control their money, what they had, which is a lot," Trump said in an interview with TV host Wayne Allyn Root. "We have total control of it. I'm their banker. I am their banker."

Trump described Iran's economy as being in severe distress. "They've got 300% inflation. They have no value. Their currency has almost no value. They have they they're not paying their soldiers. Their soldiers are leaving. So just keep that going. It's not sustainable," he said.

The president outlined three possible approaches toward Iran: maintaining current pressure, striking the country "really, really hard," or relying primarily on economic pressure.

"We could just keep it alone, and they're going to fail. We could just keep, you know, doing sort of just like nice and easy, relaxed. Like I said, some sort of negotiator. You see, they are very devious negotiators because they'll agree to something, then they'll go out and tell the press that they did not do it. They're very dishonest people. So we have three strategies," said Trump. "So just keep that going. It's not sustainable. Hit them really, really hard. Or this, this. I think really the third is just bear economically. But we're doing that anyway. That's sort of a part of the question," he added.

When asked how the conflict could end, Trump said his primary objective was preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"I'm in this thing for one primary reason: that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," he said, claiming US military action had prevented Tehran from acquiring one.