Trump says new nuclear deal with Iran could happen “very quickly”

Speaking to reporters before departing for Camp David on Saturday, President Trump said that a new nuclear deal could be negotiated with Iran “very quickly.” The U.S. pulled out of the deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama last year, leading to rising tensions between the two countries.

Mr. Trump decided not to launch a retaliatory strike after Iran shot down an unmanned U.S. drone earlier this week, saying that he believed the casualty count of such a strike would be disproportionate to the attack from Iran. Earlier this week, Mr. Trump initially said he believed the strike was not intentional before walking back those comments on Saturday. 

“It was probably intentional,” he said. “Regardless, they targeted something without a person in it, without a man or woman, and certainly without anybody from the United States in it.”

The president said Iran also had a plane carrying 38 people on its sight but the country made the “very wise” decision not to shoot it down. 

Mr. Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be imposing new sanctions on Iran, with some being implemented “slowly” and some “more rapidly.” He said he wasn’t unduly influenced by his national security adviser, John Bolton, who was a major proponent of the war in Iraq.

“I listen to everybody,” Mr. Trump said. He added that he would make “well-connected calls” while he was at Camp David this weekend and would consider a potential new deal with Iran.

Mr. Trump also defended his decision to implement a mass deportation crackdown targeting undocumented immigrants. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) roundups will target more than 2,000 people, including families, who have been given final deportation orders.

“People that came in the county illegally will be deported,” Mr. Trump said.

“The people that ICE will apprehend have already been ordered to be deported. This means that they have run from the law and run from the courts. These are people that are supposed to go back to their home country. They broke the law by coming into the country, & now by staying,” Mr. Trump had tweeted earlier in the day.