President Trump said Tuesday the U.S. and Iran will end up with a “great deal,” as negotiating teams prepared to sit down in Pakistan ahead of the expiration of a two-week pause in fighting.
Tehran officials are expected to send a team to Islamabad to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance after a few days of tough talk and waffling about whether they would meet.
“They have no choice but to send them. What I think is we’re going to end up with a great deal,” Mr. Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The president says his main goal is to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.
An initial round of talks failed to produce a deal. But Mr. Trump said Iran is desperate for change after being ruled for decades by a “bloodthirsty” regime.
“Iran can get themselves on a very good footing if they make a deal,” Mr. Trump said.
SEE ALSO: Status of U.S.-Iran peace talks in Pakistan unknown, as Tehran maintains defiant stance
Mr. Trump ordered the U.S. military to bombard Iran in joint strikes with Israel on Feb. 28.
The strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials and decimated its navy and military infrastructure.
Iran retaliated with strikes on U.S. allies in the Middle East and restrictions on oil traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway.
Mr. Trump agreed to a two-week pause in the fighting on April 7. Its expiration by midweek puts additional pressure on both sides to reach a deal in Pakistan.
Pressed on whether he would extend the ceasefire this week, Mr. Trump said: “Well, I don’t want to do that.”
The president said the U.S. is in a good negotiating position, given its military strength and blockade of Iranian ports.
SEE ALSO: U.S. forces board sanctioned tanker in Indo-Pacific carrying Iranian oil, Pentagon says
“We’re dealing with them very successfully. The blockade has been a tremendous success,” Mr. Trump said.
The prospects for a deal remain unclear, given the tough talk between both sides in the lead-up to talks.
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf posted Tuesday on X.
Mr. Trump said he would resume fighting if Iran does not make a good deal.
“We’re ready to go,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump also defended his decision to go to war with Iran, saying the stock market has been resilient and oil prices have not risen as much as he thought they would.
He said other wars lasted much longer, and that he would have won the Vietnam and Iraq wars faster if he had been president.
On Iran, he said, “I’m not going to be rushed.”
