“They’re calling. They’re saying, how do we make a deal?” Trump said in remarks to reporters. “I said, you’re being a little bit late, and we want to fight now more than they do.”
The comments came after nearly a week of escalating exchanges in which US and Israeli forces struck targets across Iran while Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks across the region, raising fears of a broader Middle East war.
Trump framed the campaign as a decisive military effort, boasting of American power and claiming Iran had suffered sweeping losses.
“Their navy is gone,” he said. “Their anti-aircraft weapons are gone. So they have no Air Force. They have no air defense.”
Earlier Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran was not seeking a ceasefire and saw no reason to negotiate.
“We are not asking for ceasefire. We don’t see any reason why we should negotiate when we negotiated with them twice and every time they attacked us in the middle of negotiations,” Araghchi told NBC News.
He also challenged Washington to attempt a ground invasion, saying Iran was prepared to confront US forces.
Araghchi later wrote on social media that Washington had squandered a diplomatic opening.
“Plan A for a clean rapid military victory failed, Mr. President. Your Plan B will be even bigger failure,” he said, adding that a “unique deal” had been lost after what he called the intervention of an “‘America Last’ cabal.”
Trump also urged defections from within Iran’s security establishment, calling on members of the Revolutionary Guards, military and police to lay down their arms and promising immunity to those who did so.
He said he wanted to see Iranians “take back” their country and added that the United States would ensure whoever leads Iran next “will not threaten America or its neighbors.”
The exchange underscored the widening gap between Washington and Tehran as diplomacy gives way to a fast-moving military confrontation whose scope continues to expand.
