US President Donald Trump stated that Iran had reached out to him seeking discussions yet continued to lie about the status of those negotiations during a Wednesday interview.

He disclosed that the United States had readied a large-scale military strike before shifting toward diplomatic efforts at Iran's request.

We were going to launch a tremendous attack, the biggest since World War II, and they called me and said very politely, Please, can we talk? They did not want the attack, and I said yes, we can talk. Let us get it done, finally let us get it done, Trump recounted.

Trump further charged that Iranian officials denied any contacts with Washington even after holding full-day talks on Tuesday.

They do not like to admit that. You tell people we are having wonderful discussions, and then some guy will come out of Iran and say we have not met. They will say we did not talk about nuclear. Well, what did we talk about? We are sitting there twiddling our thumbs, right? he remarked.

The president reaffirmed that Tehran would be prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz would open in the near term regardless of the path taken.

Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. They already cannot, but it is going to be formal, he said.

Iranian state media reported that an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz with Oman would be postponed as long as the United States maintained threats against Iran.

If Iran withdrew from the talks, Trump warned they would face a severe response. If they back out again, they are going to get hit really hard. They know that. They understand that, he added.

I have no choice. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. It is very simple, he concluded.

Trump Faults Obama Iran Deal and Credits Military Pressure for Bringing Tehran to Negotiations

Trump also criticized former president Barack Obama for attempting to bribe Iran with large sums of money, including 1.7 billion dollars in cash delivered on a Boeing 757.

Obama was taken to the cleaners. He thought he could bribe his way out. He gave them billions, tens of billions of dollars so stupidly, Trump said.

The president maintained that military pressure had forced Tehran back to the table. You cannot bribe your way out. All you can do is fight your way out. If we were not doing what we are doing, they would not be talking, he asserted.

While keeping military options available, Trump expressed hope that further strikes would prove unnecessary. We hit them very, very hard. But the hard hit is yet to come, and hopefully we will not have to use it. I hope we will not have to. We are having very good discussions, he noted.

The only thing that matters is action, and they want to make a deal. We will see what happens. If they do not make a deal, it is going to be too bad. And we have much more on Iran coming up, he said.