President Trump explained early Tuesday why he has so far avoided a return to full-scale war with Iran — even after Iran downed a US military helicopter.

Speaking to reporters after the Monday night Knicks game and several hours after Iran downed a US military helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz, the president claimed the crisis over the oil chokepoint would last far longer without a deal with Tehran.

“If we go and bomb — which we can do very easily if we want to — and we spend another two or three weeks bombing, they’ll have nothing left whatsoever,” he said. “But you won’t have the Strait open for months. If we do the bombing, a lot of people are going to be killed.”

“Who wants to do that? I don’t,” he added.

Still, Trump directed limited strikes on Iran in retaliation for its downing of the Apache helicopter — but US Central Command said they would be “proportional” to the attack

“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

The president last week said that despite his resistance to restarting the war, he would consider a return to striking Iran should Tehran strike and kill US troops.

Before Monday night, Iran had targeted US troops but had been unsuccessful in striking them since the April 8 cease-fire began. 

Should he give up on diplomacy, Trump told ABC on Monday that Washington would have to help rebuild Iran after it wipes out “an entire infrastructure of a nation” — but that the US would receive half the country’s oil in exchange.

“Somebody’s going to have to build all that infrastructure, new bridges, new this, new that, new power plants,” he said. “They’re talking about a trillion dollars, probably more. That’s why we’ll probably get involved in rebuilding.” 

Trump has repeatedly stated the US and Iran are close to a deal since April, when Iranian and American leaders held peace talks in Islamabad.

A review by The Post found the president had made the claim at least 37 times since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, 2026, in statements on Truth Social and to reporters.

However, he downplayed the Iranian strike as not “a big deal” in a phone interview with the Wall Street Journal — suggesting he may stick by his intention to pursue a deal to reopen the strait and begin nuclear talks imminently despite launching limited retaliatory strikes.

The US has previously tried to reopen the strait on its own, but the endeavor was short-lived. Trump on May 4 launched an operation — dubbed “Project Freedom” — that would have seen the US reopening the strait through military force. 

The president called it off the next day at the behest of Gulf states that were concerned Iran would begin targeting their oil and gas infrastructure in retaliation.

Regional sources also said Gulf nations felt that the US would not be able to protect them from Iranian attack — particularly swarms of drones that Iran is prone to use and could slip through traditional defenses.

At the time, Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that the Gulf states felt a deal was close — but it’s been a month and Iran has continued to target regional infrastructure.

Those strikes — such as last week’s targeting of US forces in Kuwait that ultimately killed a Kuwaiti civilian and injured dozens others — have come in retaliation for US operations in the Strait, including a covert, remote operation to guide ships through, as well as the ongoing blockade of Iranian ports.

The US has been quietly helping advise dozens of shipping vessels on how to get through the oil chokepoint without hitting Iranian mines or being detected.

But Trump reassured reporters that an agreement with Iran to reopen the strait diplomatically is coming soon, describing it as a “very, very good, strong, powerful deal.”

Iran, meanwhile, is requiring fees for commercial ships that want to cross through the strait — and targeting those that don’t pay. 

They have previously indicated no willingness to drop the charges, while the US continues to demand that strait passage be toll-free.