Trump says Iran won't make deal he thinks is needed

President Donald Trump said on Monday Iran would not make the deal he thinks is needed to end a war with the US and should surrender as talks between the countries remained stalled.

"They're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," he told reporters in the Oval Office.

Asked whether the US was seeking to extend an interim deal with Iran, Trump said "no".

The interim deal agreed to in June declared an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts", but quickly unraveled, with Trump saying it was "over" on July 7 and Iran's foreign ministry declaring it "suspended" a week later.

Under that memorandum of understanding, Iran and the US committed to negotiating a final deal, covering broader issues such as the fate of Iran's nuclear programme, in a maximum of 60 days, extendable by mutual consent. Monday marks 60 days since the MOU was signed.

Hours before, Trump told a Fox News reporter during a phone interview that Iran "should put up the white flag of surrender".

The dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up fuel prices and put pressure on Trump to end a war that is unpopular at home ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide ‌control of the US Congress.

Trump told Fox News that the midterms were not impacting his strategy on Iran.

"Midterms have nothing to do with my thinking," he said.

Earlier on Monday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: "The number one goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a nuclear weapon," repeating one of his stated rationales for the war.