WASHINGTON, March 26 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday signaled uncertainty about whether the US is willing to strike a deal with Iran, even as he claimed Tehran is eager to negotiate.
"They're not fools. They're very smart, actually, in a certain way. And they're great negotiators," Anadolu Ajansi reported Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
Iran is "begging" to make a deal, he added.
"They're great negotiators, and they are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't know if we're willing to do that," Trump said.
Separately, Trump in a post on Truth Social had called Iranian negotiators “different and strange,” and urging them to “get serious” about the US peace proposal on Thursday, according to Anadolu.
“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal,” he wrote.
He urged them to “get serious soon, before it is too late,” as there will be “NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”
The US has reportedly sent Iran a 15-point plan, outlining steps on Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, as well as maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran rejected the proposal, saying any ceasefire would occur on its terms and timeline, and outlined five conditions for ending the war, including a complete halt to "aggression and assassinations."
Regional tensions have escalated since Feb 28, when the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran that has killed more than 1,340 people so far, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.
Thirteen US service members have been killed and around 290 others have been injured since the operation began.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
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