Trump claims Iran ‘begging to make a deal’ but teases new aid for farmers amid war fallout

US President Donald Trump denied on Thursday that he was desperate for a deal with Iran, swinging between threats and diplomacy, while presenting a series of “boats of oil” that reportedly made it through the blocked Strait of Hormuz as an Iranian “gift” – a reveal that he teased a day earlier.

This comes as the war he and Israel launched against Iran approaches the one-month mark with little end in sight, driving oil prices up globally and further unsettling the global economy.

“I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters during an on-camera Cabinet meeting.

“I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care,” he said. Calling the Iranian regime “sick” and “sinister”, the US president added that “they are begging to make a deal, not me”.

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Trump says Iran has given a major energy-related ‘present’ to the US

The disclosure came at a morning Cabinet briefing where Trump also previewed his next announcement: new measures to aid American farmers, a politically crucial group as midterm elections approach, struggling with soaring fertiliser costs, lost markets and financial setbacks worsened by the war and Trump’s tariff policies.

Their hopes for a massive Chinese purchase of soybeans at a planned summit this month between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were deflated by a delay in the sit-down, tentatively rescheduled for mid-May.

South China Morning Post