KAITLAN COLLINS: In less than 24 hours, President Trump is going to board Air Force One for what could be one of the most consequential foreign trips of his second term. But as he heads to China in a weakened position in his trade war, it’s the actual war in Iran that could actually complicate everything.

A source close to the Iran negotiations is telling CNN that any significant movement will, quote, “Depend on the results of the president’s visit to Beijing.” That’s because, Beijing, of course, is by far Iran’s most important economic partner. More than 80 percent of the oil shipped from Iran goes to China.

Now, as for the status of those peace talks, this is what the president told reporters on Iran’s latest proposal today.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us — I didn’t even finish reading it — I said, I’m not going to waste my time reading it. I would say, it’s one of the weakest. Right now, it’s on life support.

I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1 percent chance of living.

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COLLINS: Now, if you hear that and you’re wondering what you missed? It’s probably because the President has been saying things like this for weeks now.

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TRUMP: And they are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it.

They are begging to work out a deal.

They’d like to make a deal very badly, very badly.

We’re very close to making a deal.

I mean, Iran is dying to make a deal. I can only tell you that.

They play games. But let me just tell you, they want to make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Sometimes, we hear from the president, saying that Iran has agreed to almost everything.

Then, he is also back to threatening annihilation.

Then we’re back to being this close to a deal. And now, in the president’s telling, he says that deal is flatlining.

The president has been hinting at a reason that he’s been lurching back and forth on this.

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REPORTER: Is this still a leadership that you believe you can negotiate with–

TRUMP: Yes.

REPORTER: –to ultimately reach a peace deal with?

TRUMP: I think so. Well, you have to. You have the moderates and you have the lunatics. And I think the moderates are more respected. The lunatics want to fight till the end, you know? There will be a very — it’ll be a very quick fight.

But I call them, you have, just like our country, we have lunatics too. We have — I call them lunatics. I call them stupid people too.

But in Iran, they have the moderates, they’re dying to make a deal, and then you have the lunatics, and I guess they’re a little bit afraid of the lunatics, but — and why not?

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COLLINS: Now, the president told Fox News in a phone call that he believes Iran’s hardliners are, quote, “Going to fold.”

And that comes, as Iran’s parliament speaker, who right now, has been the top negotiator that’s been playing out in these talks that have been going on, that’s Mohammad Ghalibaf, wrote today, There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another. He said, The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.

Now, Iran has clearly been paying close attention to Americans’ waning support for this war. As now, in the United States, the national average for a gallon of gas has hit $4.52. That is over 50 percent higher than when the war started on February 28th.

As Americans increasingly feel that pain, the president has been arguing this.

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TRUMP: You know, a lot of people said, Well, does he have a plan?

Yes, of course they do. I have the best plan ever. I mean, Iran has been defeated militarily, totally. They have a little left. They probably built up during this period of time. We’ll knock that out in about a day. But I have a plan. You know? And it is a very simple plan. I don’t know why you don’t say it like it is. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

They think that, Well, I’ll get tired of this, or I’ll get bored, or I’ll have some pressure. But there’s no pressure. There’s no pressure at all. We’re going to have a complete victory.

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