Trump says Iran wants to meet 'very badly' after US strikes

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US strikes on Iran had effectively ended hostile rhetoric from Tehran and pushed its leaders to seek talks with Washington.

"We just did a really great job. And then, of course, you cap it off with the hit, the perfect hit in Iran, where they were talking awfully badly, you know, death to America, death to Israel. They were talking awfully badly," Trump said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

"They're not talking badly anymore, to be honest with you. And we might even meet with them and see," he added.

"They want to meet, they want to meet, and we'll see if we can do something. But they want to meet. I think they want to meet very badly."

'US not looking to hurt Iran'

Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that "Iran does want to speak. And I think they'd like to speak to me. And it's time that they do."

"We're not looking to hurt them. We're looking to let them be a country again. They got beat up and, you know, they were they were both exhausted, frankly. But Iran really got beat up. And I think they want to meet. I mean, I know they want to meet. And if it's necessary, I'll do it."

Trump made the remarks after his phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the two sides discussed Iran and Ukraine.

First sanctions after strikes

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil and on a Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, the Treasury Department said.

A network of companies run by Iraqi-British national Salim Ahmed Said has been buying and shipping billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil since at least 2020, the department said.

They were the first round of sanctions imposed against Iran following the US and Israeli strikes against Iranian military and nuclear facilities.