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DUBLIN — Donald Trump says Canada and Iran have something in common — they both want a deal.
The U.S. president, who spoke to reporters Saturday in Dublin before visiting to his golf course in western Ireland, was asked whether he planned to have the United States pull out of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade.
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His response included references to negotiations between Iran and the United States to end a war that started in February when the U.S. and Israel started airstrikes on Iran.
“Canada wants to make a deal very badly, just like Iran wants to make a deal very badly,” Trump said.
“I just don’t think they’re ready. But Canada wants to make a deal …. I hope Canada appreciates being in the same sentence with Iran.”
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Friday that no formal trade talks were scheduled, although he said conversations between Canadian and American officials have not stopped.
The most recent formal negotiations between Canada and the United States ended Aug. 21.
Trump also appeared to blame Iran on Saturday for attacks on a key Saudi oil pipeline despite Iraq saying they were launched from its territory.
Asked if he thought Iran was behind the attack that closed the East-West pipeline, Trump told reporters: “Well, I think they are. Probably they are.”
Saudi Arabia on Friday shut down the major pipeline a day after it was attacked by drones, and Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured a strategic island at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, two officials said, opening a new front in the Iran war.
Also on Friday, the Houthis made their biggest territorial gains in years along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s key shipping lanes. The advance could boost Iran’s strategy of driving up world oil and gas prices to pressure the United States.
Saudi Arabia said it had shut down the East-West pipeline after it was attacked the day before. The Saudi Ministry of Energy called the shutdown “a precautionary measure.”
The Saudi Foreign Ministry had already blamed the attack on several drones that came from Iraq. In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom said it would not respond to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.”
Trump also said his administration has “had discussions” with the Houthis, though he did not say when.
“The Houthis called us, and they don’t want to fight with us,” he said. “They would much prefer not having us involved, and they’re letting most ships go through.”
Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack some ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which has become an important source of leverage for Tehran in the war.
The U.S. has been introducing new measures to increase the economic pain on Iran after negotiations collapsed and no end to the intermittent fighting appears in sight.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran wants a deal to end the conflict, but Tehran’s hardline leaders have signalled a willingness to dig in.
“It’s very interesting — Canada and Iran. Canada wants to make a deal and Iran wants to make a deal. At the right time, both of these things could happen,” he said in Ireland on Saturday.
Trump’s trip included a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
At one point, the U.S. president responded to a question about Irish reunification, saying he would love to see the reunification of the Republic of Ireland with the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland.
A protest march drew thousands to central Dublin, but Trump had left the city and was on the way to his Doonbeg golf course on the country’s Atlantic coast by the time the demonstration began.
— with files from the Associated Press
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