WASHINGTON:

US President Donald Trump has said that he’d consider traveling to Pakistan to sign a peace deal if the US and Iran reach an agreement to end the war.

“I would go to Pakistan, yeah,” Trump told reporters while leaving the White House on Thursday. “If the deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go.” He added: “They want me to go.”

Trump also praised the Pakistanis serving as intermediaries in the negotiations over the war, saying they’ve “been so great”.

The president projected optimism about striking a deal with Iran, claiming Tehran has agreed to things it hadn’t two months ago, citing an agreement that the country would not have a nuclear weapon and would hand over its “nuclear dust.”

“So, very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and they have agreed to that. Iran’s agreed to that, and they’ve agreed to it very powerfully”.

He added: “They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B2 bombers,” referring to US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last June.

“So we have a lot of agreement with Iran,” Trump said, praising the negotiations. Iran has not confirmed that they have agreed to those terms.

“Iran wants to make a deal, and we’re dealing very nicely with them. We’ve got to have no nuclear weapons,” Trump said, adding: “That’s a big factor, and they’re willing to do things today that they weren’t two months ago.”

Asked about a prior proposal for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment for 20 years, Trump said there was no such limitation and that any suspension would go beyond that: “We have a statement, very powerful statement, that they will not have, beyond 20 years, that they will not have nuclear weapons … there’s no 20-year limit.”

The US president said Pope Leo was free to say what he wanted but that it was important for him to understand that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the religious leader, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran in recent weeks.

Trump says he is responsible for Leo’s appointment, and has accused him of being “weak” on foreign policy.

“The Pope has to understand – it’s very simple – Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The world would be in great danger,” he told reporters at the White House.

Trump’s criticism has triggered widespread backlash from US Christians across the political spectrum.

Leo, originally from Chicago, decried the “madness of war” in a peace appeal on Saturday.

The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states with US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Leo told Reuters on Monday he would keep criticizing the war, regardless of Trump’s comments.

“The Pope can say what he wants, and I want him to say what he wants, but I can disagree. I think that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

The president announced that Lebanon and Israel had agreed on a 10-day ceasefire and said the next meeting between the United States and Iran may take place over the weekend, adding to optimism that the Iran war may be nearing an end.

Trump told the reporters that Iran had offered not to have nuclear weapons for more than 20 years.

“We’re going to see what happens. But I think we’re very close to making a deal with Iran,” he said.

“I think we have a chance. And if that happens, oil goes way down, prices go way down, inflation goes way down, and … much more importantly than even that, you won’t have a nuclear holocaust.”

Trump said he was not sure a ceasefire with Iran would need to be extended beyond next week, and added that Tehran wanted to make a deal.

“We have a very good relationship with Iran right now, as hard as it is to believe,” Trump said. “And I think it’s a combination of about four weeks of bombing, and a very powerful blockade.”

Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a sticking point at last weekend’s talks. The US proposed a 20-year suspension of all nuclear activity by Iran – an apparent concession from longstanding demands for a permanent ban. Tehran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.

Washington has pressed for any highly enriched uranium (HEU) to be removed from Iran. Tehran has demanded that international sanctions against it be lifted.

Two Iranian sources said there were signs of a compromise emerging on the HEU stockpile, with Tehran considering shipping part, but not all, of it out of the country, something it had previously ruled out.

Trump said in an earlier social media post that the Lebanon ceasefire would start at 5 p.m. EST (2100 GMT), aiming to halt a conflict between Israel and the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah that was reignited by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

He said he had held “excellent conversations” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and planned to invite them both to the White House for “meaningful talks”.

The president called the prospect of a White House meeting between Israel and Lebanon “very exciting,” expressing optimism that the two sides could broker a peace deal.

“I think we’re going to have a meeting,” he told reporters, adding that it could take place at the White House “over the next week or two.” The meeting, he said, would be the first in 44 years.

Trump’s invite came shortly after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, which he called a “very nice little package for about a week.” If the two countries reach a permanent truce, Trump said that the agreement would include Hezbollah.

“I think we will have an agreement between Lebanon, and they’re going to take care of Hezbollah,” he said, adding that he’d be open to visiting Lebanon “at the right time.”

The US naval blockade of Iran is just an example of “polite” behavior during the ongoing ceasefire and US forces are ready to strike Iran’s power plants and energy industry if ordered, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday.

Standing alongside two of the US military’s most senior officers, Hegseth said Iran needs to choose wisely as it prepares for negotiations with the United States.

“We are reloading with more power than ever before, and better intelligence,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. “We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry. We’d rather not have to do it.”

President Donald Trump’s administration expressed optimism on Wednesday about reaching a deal to end the Iran war, while also warning of increasing economic pressure against Iran if it remains defiant.

That has included a blockade of Iran that went into effect on Monday, with the US military forcing 14 ships to turn around. Dozens of US warships and aircraft, including about 10,000 military personnel, are enforcing the blockade.

Trump is hoping the effort will force Iran to accept US terms for ending the war, which was launched by the US and Israel on February 28, including opening up the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which roughly one fifth of global oil and gas exports ordinarily transits. Trump has said that was also a condition of the ceasefire due to expire next week.

The war has resulted in the largest-ever disruption of global oil and gas supplies.

Analysts have said that Iran can withstand a complete halt in oil exports of up to two months before being forced to curb production.

Hegseth, in comments aimed at the Iranian leadership, said that the blockade “is the polite way that this can go.”

Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said the military was adjusting tactics, techniques and procedures, but he did not provide any details.

During the same briefing, General Dan Caine, chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that American forces are “ready to resume major combat operations at literally a moment’s notice.”

US Navy ships would pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran, Caine told the briefing. He added that could take place not just in the region, but also the Indo-Pacific.

Ships trying to break the blockade would be intercepted and warned that “if you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force,” and enforcement would occur inside Iran’s territorial seas and in international waters, Caine said.

No ships have been boarded so far, Caine said.

The US military has widened its blockade to include cargoes deemed contraband, and any vessels suspected of trying to reach Iranian territory will be “subject to belligerent right to visit and search,” the US Navy said in an advisory on Thursday.

“These vessels, regardless of location, are subject to visit, board, search, and seizure,” the Navy said in an updated advisory.

Contraband items listed included weapons, weapons systems, ammunition, nuclear materials, crude and refined oil products as well as iron, steel and aluminum.

Sources briefed by Tehran have told Reuters that Iran could let ships sail freely through the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz without risk of attack under proposals it has offered in talks with the US, providing a deal is clinched to prevent renewed conflict.