Donald Trump hints at new nuclear deal with Iran as he hosts White House dinner for Macron

President Donald Trump left the door open for a possible new deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions today after blasting the original 2015 agreement as “insane” and “ridiculous”.

He appeared to dash President Emmanuel Macron’s hopes of salvaging the existing deal after talks at the White House during the French leader’s state visit.

But his admission that he would be “flexible” about the possibility of a revamped, tougher version meant Mr Macron may not go home empty-handed from his three-day trip to Washington.

Mr Trump has derided the three-year-old deal signed by his White House predecessor Barack Obama for failing to tackle Iran’s ballistic missile programme or its support for terrorist groups.

However, both Mr Trump and Mr Macron — who went to great lengths yesterday to emphasise their political “bromance” — hinted an updated deal may be on the way.

Speaking before last night’s first state dinner of the Trump presidency, Mr Macron said he was open to a new agreement built around the existing deal that his American counterpart is threatening to tear up on May 12.

In turn, Mr Trump spoke cryptically about “doing a much bigger, maybe, deal”. He insisted: “They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East.”

German chancellor Angela Merkel will visit the US on Friday to exert extra pressure on Mr Trump not to torpedo the agreement, in which Tehran agreed to mothball its nuclear ambitions in return for relief from tough economic sanctions.

“Nobody knows what I’m going to do on the 12th,” Mr Trump said yesterday, referring to the deadline he has set to pull out of the agreement.

“This is a deal with decayed foundations. It’s a bad deal, it’s a bad structure, it’s falling down. It should have never ever been made.”

But after talks in the White House Cabinet Room later with Mr Macron, he conceded: “We could have at least an agreement among ourselves fairly quickly. I think we’re fairly close to understanding each other. And I think our meeting, our one-on-one, went very, very well.”

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani yesterday threatened “severe consequences” if the US withdrew from the deal.

Despite their divergent views on Iran, Mr Trump is pulling out all the stops to cement a deeper bond with President Macron, who has himself gone out of his way to form a stronger relationship with Mr Trump than other European heads of state.

At one point yesterday, Mr Trump ostentatiously brushed what appeared to be dandruff from his opposite number’s jacket, saying: “We have a very special relationship, in fact I’ll get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect — he is perfect.”

At last night’s extravagant state dinner Mr Trump and his wife stood hand-in-hand, with Melania hogging the limelight in a black Chanel chantilly lace haute couture gown that was hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins.

Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived and posed for photographs, with Mrs Macron wearing a white Louis Vuitton dress with gold embroidery.

The dinner was a rare opportunity for Mrs Trump to stamp her mark on her husband’s rollercoaster presidency.

The former model has kept a relatively low profile since he took office and has stayed silent as he has faced claims that he had flings with an ex-Playboy Playmate and porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Mrs Trump was heavily involved in organising the dinner, picking the menu and the gold-trimmed table settings.

The president lavished praise on his wife in his toast, calling her “America’s absolutely incredible First Lady.”

He went on to hail the bonds between the United States and France, saying: “May our friendship grow even deeper, may our kinship grow even stronger and may our sacred liberty never die.”

With 123 attendees, including Mr Trump’s 36-year-old daughter Ivanka, the event was smaller and more intimate than the White House dinners held by President Barack Obama.

Although there were no showbiz celebrities, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 86, and his wife Jerry Hall, 61, were guests, along with Apple chief Tim Cook.

Mr Macron was expected to address a joint session of the US Congress today before heading home.