United States President Donald Trump on Thursday held a cabinet meeting primarily focused on the conflict in Middle East. During the meeting, Trump insisted that Iran had been “begging” for a deal with the US, contrary to what senior leaders in Tehran have said.
“They’re begging to make a deal, not me,” Trump said, adding that he wanted to “set the record straight” that he wasn’t the one pushing for ceasefire, the Associated Press reported.
“Anybody would know they’re talking,” the US President said, calling Iranian leaders “great negotiators.” However, Trump also took a jab at Tehran, saying, “They’re not fools, they’re very smart actually in a certain way….I say they’re lousy fighters but they’re great negotiators.”
‘We’ll just keep blowing them away’: Trump urges Iran to agree to US deal
Meanwhile, Trump also urged Iran to take the “chance” to make a deal with US, saying that America would keep “blowing them away” otherwise.
“They now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to join a new path forward,” Reuters news agency cited Trump as saying during the cabinet meeting. “We’ll see if they want to do it. If they don’t, we’re their worst nightmare. In the meantime, we’ll just keep blowing them away,” he added.
Trump says Iran allowed passage of 10 oil tankers as ‘present’
The US President earlier on Thursday also claimed that Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz as a “present”, to show that it was serious about its intentions to end the conflict, AFP reported.
This came after Trump had earlier this week claimed that Iran had given the US a “gift” which was related to energy and the “flow of the Strait.” He claimed Iran had permitted eight “big boats of oil” to transit the Strait earlier this week, followed by two others.
