Trump Says Iran Wants to Reopen Talks: ‘They Should’ve Done it Sooner. They Played Too Cute.’

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iranian leadership wants to reopen talks with the U.S. following Saturday’s attack which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In a phone interview with The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer, the president swiped at the Iran regime over the lack of fruitful negotiations ahead of Saturday’s strikes.

“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump said. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”

Trump suggested that it might take some time to sort who will do the negotiating for Iran.

“Most of those people are gone,” Trump said. “Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because…that was a big hit. They should have done it sooner…They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”

The president also spoke with Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich — to whom he insisted that the regime was close to getting a nuclear weapon.

“If we didn’t [attack[, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks,” Trump said. “And then all of this would not have been possible.”

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