President Donald Trump on Thursday said an agreement with Iran is necessary and warned of severe consequences if negotiations collapse. "We have to make a deal, otherwise it’s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic," he told reporters, stressing the stakes of reaching a settlement.
Trump framed his expectations for the talks with a compressed timeline, suggesting an accord could be reached within the next month. He also signaled a readiness to conduct extended discussions with Iranian counterparts, saying, "I’ll talk to them as long as I like."
The president's remarks come against a backdrop of ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran. Beyond the broad outlines offered in his comments, no specific terms, objectives, or mechanisms for a potential deal were provided by the president or his office in conjunction with these remarks.
In short remarks to the press, Mr. Trump combined a sense of urgency with cautious optimism about timing while leaving substantive details unaddressed. The public record, as reflected in these statements, identifies the negotiating objective - reaching a deal - and the timeframe - potentially within a month - but does not disclose the content or scope of what such an agreement would encompass.
Observers were given two clear direct quotations from the president: an emphatic warning about the consequences of failing to reach an agreement and an affirmation of his willingness to remain in conversation with Iranian officials for an indefinite period. Other than those statements, the specifics of the administration's negotiating position were not articulated in the comments reported.
Given the limited information provided in the president's remarks, the public account at this juncture remains constrained to the expressed urgency, an optimistic timeline, and a declared openness to extended dialogue. The comments underscore the president's view that a resolution is necessary, while leaving open substantial unknowns about the substance of any forthcoming accord.
Note: The president's quoted remarks and the description that followed are the only substantive elements provided in the public comments referenced here; no additional details about the nature of the proposed deal were included.