Trump: US and Iran are talking, ‘smarter’ to make deal than to fight, but Tehran isn’t ready

US President Donald Trump says the United States and Iran are in talks to negotiate an end to their military conflict, but repeats his claim that Tehran is not yet ready for a deal.

He says making a deal is a “smarter” exit strategy from the war than more fighting.

“There’s a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose, and it’s knocking out everything they have,” Trump says in remarks to reporters at the White House at an event focused on nuclear energy. “Or there’s a smarter strategy, and that’s [that] you make a deal. And they want to make a deal. I just don’t think they’re ready yet.”

He adds, “We are talking to them. I think they’re being serious. I think … they are being by far the most serious that we’ve seen them, but that doesn’t mean we get there. We’ll see what happens.”

He repeats his oft-stated claim that had he not returned to office last year, “there would be no Israel, and there probably would be no Middle East.”