NUCLEAR DEAL
Trump's address contrasted with his recent harsh rhetoric. The Republican, who was impeached in December and faces an election in November, had vowed to respond "disproportionately" if Iran retaliated strongly against Soleimani's killing.
Trump said on Saturday the United States had targeted 52 Iranian sites, including ones important to the country's culture. He was criticized for that even by U.S. political allies and later backtracked, saying the United States would obey international law on the issue.
On Wednesday, Trump again vowed he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and urged world powers to quit a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018 and work for a new deal, an issue at the heart of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran has rejected new talks.
There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump's comments. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president's remarks as a "big retreat from threats."
Soon after Wednesday's attacks, Trump had said on Twitter that "All is well!" and Washington was assessing damage.
That tweet and the comment by Iran's foreign minister eased some concerns about a wider war and calmed jittery financial markets. U.S. stock prices hit record highs before paring their gains, while world oil prices, after an early spike, fell about four percent.
U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.
But an Iranian army spokesman denied "foreign media reports" suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.
Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 ballistic missiles from its territory at U.S. targets in Iraq.
Iranian television reported an official in the supreme leader's office as saying the attacks were the "weakest" of several retaliation scenarios. It quoted another source saying Iran had lined up 100 other potential targets.
Analysts said Iran wanted to avoid any conventional military conflict with superior U.S. forces.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he believed Iran's strikes "intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. That's my own personal assessment."
After the Iranian missile attack, Iranian state television showed footage of the Soleimani burial, with hundreds of people chanting: "God is greatest" when the strikes were announced over loudspeakers. "His revenge was taken and now he can rest in peace," Iranian television said.
Hours after the Iranian missile strike, a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. A Canadian security source said Western intelligence agencies' initial assessment was that the plane was not brought down by a missile.
