Trump news live: President says US ‘very close’ to a nuclear deal with Iran – UK Times

Donald Trump says the U.S. and Iran are “very close” to securing a deal that would see America drop its longstanding sanctions and Iran give up the prospect of developing a nuclear weapon.

Speaking at a business leaders summit on Thursday in Qatar, Trump said they were “getting close” to securing a deal as Iran had “sort of” agreed to terms.

“They’re not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust. We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” he said.

“I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this.”

Trump has repeatedly said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. U.S. and Iranian negotiators have met four times since the start of April in a bid to secure a deal.

During the last stop on his Gulf nations tour, Donald Trump secured deals with the United Arab Emirates worth more than $200 billion and an agreement to enhance cooperation on artificial intelligence.

Following Trump’s meeting with Emirati president, President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the White House said the deals included a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 Boeing aircraft powered by engines made by GE Aerospace.

The U.S. Commerce Department said the two countries also agreed to establish a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership” framework and Trump and Sheikh Mohamed attended the unveiling of a new 5GW AI campus, which would be the largest outside the United States.

Before making the deals Trump visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes, impressive in the late-afternoon light.

“It is so beautiful,” Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.

“First time they closed it. It’s in honor of the United States. Better than in honor of me. Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”

Donald Trump flew to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for the final leg of his Middle East tour.

Donald Trump and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet at the White House next week.

Experts say there’s little evidence of a genocide in South Africa against white farmers, who own roughly 70 percent of commercial farmland despite making up about 7 percent of the population, a legacy of the country’s apartheid past.

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The House Budget Committee is set to vote on the bill on Friday, which would tee it up for a floor vote before it goes to the U.S. Senate. But conservatives, particularly those in the hardline House Freedom Caucus, do not believe that the bill goes far enough in spending cuts.

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Democrats are not doing themselves any favors with their reactions to the new book on Joe Biden coming out soon, as John Bowden writes:

The president’s characterization of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border as an “invasion” had already been met with criticism, which grew with the idea of the domestic deployment of the military.

Approximately 8,600 active duty troops are now at the U.S.-Mexico border, up from about 2,500 at the end of the Biden administration.

But what exactly are the troops at the border doing, and is their presence the key factor in the reduction of border crossings? Furthermore, how much does this cost, and what is the overall impact on military readiness? Should they be doing something else somewhere else?

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Donald Trump says he did not discuss 9/11 Saudi intelligence agent with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman: