Trump risks blowing up Iran negotiations as he reveals the mysterious gift given to the US

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT 16:41 26 Mar 2026, updated 10:42 27 Mar 2026

President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed the mysterious 'present' given to the United States from the Iranians that the US is negotiating with to try to end the war.  

'You know I told you about a present, right? Steve, can I reveal the present?' Trump asked. 

Trump was holding a Cabinet meeting, one that stretched for nearly 100 minutes, and asked his special envoy Steve Witkoff if he could divulge how the Iranians the US was in contact with proved they were legitimate.

'You can do anything you want, sir,' Witkoff replied. 

Trump said the Iranians wanted to show 'we're real and solid and we're there.'

'We're going to let you have eight boats of oil. Eight boats. Eight big boats of oil,' he explained. 'And they'll sail up tomorrow.' 

The President said he was watching Fox News when he saw a report about eight boats 'going right up the middle of the Hormuz Strait.' 

'And actually, they then apologized for something they said and they said we're going to send two more boats. And it ended up being 10 boats,' Trump added.

He then turned back to Witkoff, who has been handling negotiations with Iran alongside the President's son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

'I hope I haven't screwed up your negotiations,' Trump joked. 

'But I thought it was appropriate to say, as I did taunt you the other day by saying they're going to give us a present,' the President told reporters. 

On Tuesday, during a swearing-in ceremony for new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Trump had teased that the Iranians the US was negotiating with had given the administration a gift.

'They did something yesterday that was amazing. Actually, they gave us a present and the present arrived today and it was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money,' Trump said. 

'And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize and they gave it to us,' he added. 

Trump and other US officials haven't identified the Iranians they're reportedly talking to, with the President explaining why during his appearance Wednesday night at a dinner benefiting the National Republican Congressional Committee.

'And they are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it,' Trump said. 'Because they figure they'll be killed by their own people. They're also afraid they'll be killed by us.' 

'There's never been a head of a country that wanted that job less than being the head of Iran,' Trump joked. 

Over the past few days, members of the Islamic Regime have denied that negotiations with the US are ongoing. 

At the same time, some Republicans are Capitol Hill stormed out of a classified briefing on Iran Thursday amid fears that the US could invade Iran if diplomacy goes nowhere. 

During the Cabinet meeting, Witkoff turned to the cameras to assure the American people that the Iranians - before Trump ordered the strikes - had not been negotiating in good faith. 

'I have no doubt that we exhausted all efforts on behalf of a peaceful resolution,' Witkoff said. 'Jared and I both agreed that the Iranians were there to buy time until a weaker President arrived.'