“I can tell you that we’ve been called by the other side. They’d like to make a deal. Very badly, very badly,” Trump told reporters outside the Oval Office, without identifying which officials had made contact.

His remarks came less than three hours after the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, warning that US forces would destroy any Iranian “fast attack ships” approaching the blockade.

Trump said the main sticking point in talks with Tehran was its nuclear programme, reiterating that “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

“We agreed to a lot of things, but they didn’t agree to that, and I think they will agree to it. I’m almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There will never be a deal,” he said.

He added that Washington also wanted to retrieve enriched uranium still held by Iran.

“We’re going to get the dust back. We’ll get it back. Either we’ll get it back from them or we’ll take it,” Trump said.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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