Donald Trump dances onstage after hailing ‘another beautiful Armada’ sailing toward Iran - ‘Tehran should've made deal’

US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his tough approach toward Iran at a campaign-style rally in Clive, Iowa, stressing military pressure and openness to negotiations with Tehran amid ongoing tensions over the crackdown on protesters and regional security, ANI reported.

Trump said, “By the way, there's another beautiful armada floating beautifully toward Iran right now. So we'll see. I hope they make a deal. I hope they make a deal. They should have made a deal the first time. They'd have a country.”

Trump told Axios, “We have a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela,” and added that officials in Tehran have repeatedly signalled a willingness to engage. “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk,” he said.

The president’s hard-line position stems from his first-term move to pull the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal and launch a “maximum pressure” campaign designed to cripple Tehran through sanctions.

The developments come as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the West Asia to spearhead any potential American military response to the crisis, AP reported.

Iran’s currency, the rial, has meanwhile plunged to a record low of 1.5 million to the dollar.

The deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, along with its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, gives the United States the capability to strike Iran—especially as Gulf Arab states, despite hosting U.S. forces, have indicated they do not want to be drawn into any attack.

At the same time, two Iran-backed militias in the region have signalled readiness to launch fresh attacks, apparently in support of Tehran, after Trump threatened military action over the killing of peaceful protesters or potential mass executions following the demonstrations.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, one of Iran’s staunchest allies, refused to say how it planned to react in the case of a possible attack.

“During the past two months, several parties have asked me a clear and frank question: If Israel and America go to war against Iran, will Hezbollah intervene or not?” Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said in a video address, as reported by AP.

He said the group is preparing for “possible aggression and is determined to defend” against it. But as to how it would act, he said, “these details will be determined by the battle, and we will determine them according to the interests that are present.”

(With inputs from agencies)