Trump says he believes Iran wants to make deal as he extols size of US ‘armada’

US president declines to say whether he plans Venezuela-like operation, after Tehran signalled it was ready for talks

• Killing Khamenei? Hitting military sites? It is unclear what a US attack on Iran would achieve

Donald Trump has said he believes Tehran wants to make a deal to head off a regional conflict, as he claimed the US armada" near Iran was bigger than the task force deployed to topple Venezuela's leader.

We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now, even larger than what we had in Venezuela," the US president told reporters on Friday.