Trump claims Iran ‘begging to make a deal’ but teases new aid for farmers amid war fallout

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the White House in Washington on Thursday.

Photo: Getty Images/TNS US President Donald Trump denied on Thursday that he was desperate for a deal with Iran, swinging between threats and diplomacy, while presenting a series of “boats of oil” that reportedly made it through the blocked Strait of Hormuz as an Iranian “gift” – a reveal that he teased a day earlier.

This comes as the war he and Israel launched against Iran approaches the one-month mark with little end in sight, driving oil prices up globally and further unsettling the global economy. “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters during an on-camera Cabinet meeting. “I’m the opposite of desperate.

I don’t care,” he said.

Calling the Iranian regime “sick” and “sinister”, the US president added that “they are begging to make a deal, not me”.

The disclosure came at a morning Cabinet briefing where Trump also previewed his next announcement: new measures to aid American farmers, a politically crucial group as midterm elections approach, struggling with soaring fertiliser costs, lost markets and financial setbacks worsened by the war and Trump’s tariff policies.

Their hopes for a massive Chinese purchase of soybeans at a planned summit this month between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were deflated by a delay in the sit-down, tentatively rescheduled for mid-May.

Trump emphasised on Thursday that he wasn’t clear if the US was “willing to” make a deal since Iran was “defeated” and “can’t make a comeback” before quickly pivoting. “They now have a chance to make a deal.” “They’ve been obliterated,” he added. “Who wouldn’t negotiate?” Trump said the US had the right to “roam over” Iran’s cities and towns to destroy its nuclear weapons. “They’ll tell you, we’re not negotiating.

We will not negotiate.

Of course, they’re negotiating.

They’ve been obliterated … who wouldn’t negotiate,” Trump said.

He framed recent reports of several tankers making it through the Strait of Hormuz, which was blocked, as a “present” extended to him by Iran and an indication that the hardline Middle Eastern nation was keen to find a negotiated solution.

Oil tankers and cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Fujairah, the United Arab Emirates.

Photo: AFP Iran has characterised Trump’s claim of US-Iranian contact as “fake news”, however, and vowed to continue delaying the attack with asymmetric measures.

原文链接: 南华早报