US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran wants to make a deal, and that he will not agree to any deal that allows Tehran to possess a nuclear weapon, after direct talks between the two countries collapsed.
“I can assure you that the other side has contacted us. They very much want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House, following the collapse of talks in Pakistan aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.
He added that talks on nuclear issues had reached a dead end, noting the start of “imposing control” on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
He asserted that “Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon, and there will be no agreement without that.” Speaking about the Islamabad negotiations, he added that Iran had not agreed to forgo possessing nuclear weapons.
The US president said: “We will get the Iranian enriched uranium back one way or another.”
On Monday, the US military threat to impose control over the movement of ships leaving and entering Iranian ports came into effect.
Trump confirmed that he would ban Iranian ships and any ships that had paid fees to Tehran, and threatened to destroy any Iranian “fast attack” vessels that attempted to break the ban.
The ceasefire that ended six weeks of war is under threat with only one week left to run, after Washington said Tehran rejected its demands in talks in Islamabad.