Trump says Iran wants a deal and negotiations are “coming together very nicely”

President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran wants an agreement with the United States and suggested negotiations were making progress, speaking in Washington on the final day before the U.S. midterm elections.

“They want to make a deal, and that could happen,” Trump said during remarks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

He later said the Iran talks appeared to be “coming together very nicely” and linked the development to Monday’s sharp fall in oil prices.

Trump said oil had fallen about $10 and described it as the biggest one-day decline in history. Oil prices did fall sharply, with Brent dropping nearly 8%, but the claim that it was the largest daily decline ever is incorrect.

Trump also said Iran had asked the United States to “stop killing our leaders,” adding that Washington would do so. He provided no further details, and no public confirmation from Tehran of such a request was immediately available.

On the war, Trump said: “We had a war with Iran. We won.” Later in the same speech, however, he said: “It’s not a war. We’ve done very little fighting.”

Trump also highlighted U.S. actions in Venezuela, saying Washington had won the conflict there “in one day” and was receiving large quantities of Venezuelan oil.

He again said “we have Greenland now,” although the United States has not acquired the territory. A September agreement expanded U.S. military access and security rights while leaving sovereignty with Greenland and Denmark.

Much of Trump’s speech focused on the renovated Reflecting Pool, where he discussed algae, granite repairs and water color before joking that it could be renamed the “Trump Reflecting Pool.”

Turning to Tuesday’s vote, Trump called it “the most important midterm” of his lifetime, accused Democrats of fielding dangerous candidates and said the U.S. economy was “booming.”