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US President Donald Trump denied being “desperate” to make a deal with Iran Thursday, as he mixed threats with diplomacy in a push to wrap up his war in the Middle East.
Holding his first cabinet meeting since the start of the joint US-Israeli operation, Trump insisted that Iran was being “beat to shit” and was “begging” for a deal, despite Tehran’s denials.
But Trump rejected reports that he was looking for an exit ramp, as oil prices soar and political pressure mounts to avoid the kind of drawn-out Middle East war he once spurned.
Read Also: Iran Threatens To Target Shipping If US Launches Ground Invasion
“I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”
Trump has been saying for days that Iran wants to make a deal, amid growing signs he is seeking a quick end to the conflict. Iran, however, says there are no direct negotiations.
During the 90-minute televised meeting at the White House, Trump veered between repeated threats to “obliterate” Iran and claims it was on the verge of capitulating.
“They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit,” Trump said.
Citing the original timeframe of four to six weeks that he gave shortly after the US-Israeli offensive began on February 28, Trump said “we’re extremely, really, a lot ahead of schedule.”
The US leader said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to show it was serious about negotiations to end the war.
But he then said that taking control of Iran’s oil was an “option,” as the United States effectively did with Venezuela after toppling Nicolas Maduro, who appeared in a US court on Thursday.
Trump’s comments will once again fuel the speculation that has swirled since the start of the war about the 79-year-old’s goals and timeline for the war.
The US-Iran talks have been shrouded in uncertainty since Trump first announced them on Monday and postponed a threat to attack Iran’s power plants.
Trump’s deadline for Iran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz or see its energy network hit is due to expire on Friday, but with just a day to go he said he wasn’t sure if he’d extend it.
“In Trump time, a day, you know what it is? That’s an eternity,” he said.
But Trump’s global envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed for the first time that Washington had sent a 15-point “action list” via mediator Pakistan and said there were “strong signs” Iran might make a deal.
Trump meanwhile spent much of his time lambasting NATO and other allies for rejecting his appeals to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.
He blasted the British aircraft carriers London eventually offered as “toys” compared to their US equivalents.
“I’ve done a great favor for the world. The world has not been reciprocal,” Trump said. “I believe that’s going to cost them dearly.”
Trump’s top officials also chimed in.
Top US diplomat Marco Rubio appeared to quote rappers Public Enemy as he said that “every day, the Department of War lets the drummer get wicked over every portion of Iran.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hailed Trump for “doing the work of the free world.”
“We pray for a deal, and we welcome a deal,” Hegseth said. “But in the meantime…the Department of War will continue negotiating with bombs.”
Iran would target shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial conduit for global oil and other goods leading up to the Suez Canal, if the US launches a ground invasion, an unnamed military official told local media on Wednesday.
“If the enemy attempts a ground operation on Iranian islands or anywhere else on our territory, or if it seeks to impose costs on Iran through naval manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, we will open other fronts as a ‘surprise’,” the official was quoted as saying by the Tasnim agency.
“The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is among the most strategic straits in the world, and Iran has both the will and the capability to pose a fully credible threat against it,” the official continued.
Read Also: Russia ‘Very Outraged’ By Strike On Iran Nuclear Plant Site
Russia on Wednesday strongly criticized strikes on areas near Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that a “new and extremely dangerous strike” was carried out on Tuesday in the immediate vicinity of the operating power unit No. 1 at the Bushehr NPP.
“We are extremely outraged by this reckless, irresponsible manifestation of a destructive course. One gets the impression that the aggressors are deliberately seeking to cause a large-scale nuclear catastrophe in the region in order to conceal and justify their criminal acts,” the ministry said.
