WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on May 6 he believed there was “a very good chance” of sealing a peace deal with Iran, but threatened to resume his bombardment of the country if negotiations fell apart.

Despite the US leader’s optimism, Iran has yet to respond to a new US proposal, with its chief negotiator warning that Washington was seeking to force the Islamic republic’s “surrender”.

Positive signs that the foes could return to the table after weeks of deadlock grew after Mr Trump halted a short-lived military operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, citing hopes for a deal.

Mr Trump said on social media on May 6 that if “Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to”, the war would be over, but if not, the bombing would resume “at a much higher level and intensity”.

“I think it’s got a very good chance of ending, and if it doesn’t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them,” he later told the US broadcaster PBS.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told local media that the “US plan and proposal are still under review,” and that Tehran would convey its position to mediator Pakistan “after finalising its views”.

Mr Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker who has taken the lead in negotiations with the US, warned on May 6 that Washington “is seeking, through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country’s cohesion in order to force us to surrender”.

Mr Trump had said the day before that the US blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place as Tehran kept up its own chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

But citing