ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington is in contact with the "right" Iranian interlocutors and that Tehran is eager to reach a deal to end the ongoing war.

"Nobody knows who to talk to, but we're actually talking to the right people," Trump said at the swearing-in ceremony for the US Secretary of Homeland Security. "They want to make a deal so badly, you have no idea how badly they want to make a deal."

Trump said Iran sent a “big present worth a tremendous amount of money” and it showed that the US was in contact with the “right” people. The president did not specify what the gift was but said it was not related to nuclear issues but rather to oil and gas.

He said a “number of people” are conducting the talks with Iran, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law.

The president said Iran is “talking sense,” and claimed that Tehran “agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Although Iran has not confirmed the claims, Tehran has long maintained that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.

Trump said he US “killed all their leadership” twice and warned that the new leaders could be “easily” targeted again. “But let's see how they turn out,” he said. The president claimed that the regime changed in Iran because the US killed all of the leadership "that created all those problems."

“I think this thing's going to be settled very soon,” he said, regarding tensions with Iran, noting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are “quite disappointed” with a possible deal.

The remarks follow a CNN report saying Washington had reached out to Tehran through various intermediaries in recent days to explore whether an agreement was possible, though nothing had yet risen to the level of formal negotiations.

The US and Israel have carried out airstrikes on Iran since Feb. 28, so far killing more than 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.

Tensions have also intensified since March 2, when Israel expanded its military operations in Lebanon, launching airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and areas in the south and east, before beginning a limited ground incursion in the south on March 3.