Trump urges Iran, Cuba to make deals — or else

President Trump is urging countries on two sides of the globe — Iran and Cuba — to make deals with the U.S. or suffer grave consequences.

Mr. Trump said his negotiators are talking to Tehran to reach a deal that keeps the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon.

“I’ll be involved in those talks indirectly, and they’ll be very important,” Mr. Trump said late Monday on a flight to Washington from his Florida home.

Negotiators spoke about Iran’s nuclear ambitions for three hours on Tuesday in Geneva. It’s been difficult for both sides to reach a deal, since Iran says it has a sovereign right to develop some uranium for domestic and peaceful purposes.

The U.S. is also taking a more expansive view of talks, going beyond nuclear aspects to try to prevent Iran’s support for proxies in the Middle East.

Mr. Trump has threatened to strike Iran if it does not land a deal.

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SEE ALSO: Ayatollah Khamenei says Iran can sink any U.S. aircraft carrier in the area

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“I hope they’re going to be more reasonable,” Mr. Trump said. “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal.”

Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, is talking tough on social media. 

“Americans keep endlessly repeating that they’ve sent an aircraft carrier toward Iran,” he wrote Tuesday. “Well, an aircraft carrier is certainly a dangerous machine, but more dangerous than the aircraft carrier is the weapon that can sink that aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea.”

Iran also temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route, and held military exercises as tensions rise in the region.

Elsewhere, Mr. Trump is urging communist leaders in Havana to create a freer society with more democratic leadership. The U.S. also wants to eject foreign adversaries such as Russia and China from the island.

Mr. Trump cut off oil supplies from Venezuela and other nations to pressure Cuba.

“They don’t even have jet fuel for airplanes to take off,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s really a humanitarian threat.”

Mr. Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio is talking to the Cubans.

“We’ll see how it all turns out. Cuba and us — we are talking,” Mr. Trump said. “In the meantime, there is an embargo. There’s no oil, there’s no money, there’s no anything.”