Speaking to reporters after chairing the first live televised Cabinet meeting ever held at Camp David, Trump said the administration would maintain pressure on Iran despite ongoing diplomatic contacts.

"Well, we'll be hitting -- we'll be hitting them very hard and, you know, at some point they're going to say, we just can't take it anymore," Trump said when asked what to expect in the coming weeks.

He reiterated that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained Washington's central objective.

"They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and they can't have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "If they did, the Middle East would have been wiped out by now."

The US President said Iran had suffered extensive military losses but insisted it still retained limited capabilities.