President Donald Trump said on Thursday he dared Iran to “go ahead” with a counterattack in response to last month’s United States airstrikes that destroyed three Iranian nuclear sites.

“They called me to tell me they have to take a shot at us. This was Iran, very respectful,” Trump told a crowd at a large rally in Des Moines, Iowa. “That means they respect us. Because we dropped 14 bombs, they said, ‘We would like to take 14 shots.’ I said, ‘Go ahead, I understand.'”

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He was referring to Iran’s missile attack against a U.S. military base in Qatar. The counterattack turned out to be unsuccessful, as Qatar’s air defense system intercepted Iran’s missiles. Trump seemed impressed with Qatar’s defense capabilities.

Before tensions could escalate further, Trump announced an uneasy ceasefire that ended what he called the “12-day war” between Israel and Iran.

After targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the U.S. hopes to negotiate a deal that will curtail Iran’s nuclear program. Despite recent doubts from Iran’s foreign minister, Trump believes Iran is ready to negotiate.

“They were talking awfully badly. They aren’t talking badly anymore, to be honest with you,” Trump said, reiterating Iran wants to meet “very badly.”

The White House‘s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is reportedly meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo, Norway, next week to restart nuclear talks. There is no set date for the meeting at this time.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump met with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, at the White House to discuss de-escalation with Iran ahead of Monday’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is looking to secure a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

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Iran said it will not retaliate against the U.S. for targeting its nuclear program. Iran also indicated it will not stop enriching stockpiles of uranium, although the Islamic Republic maintained it is open to discussing the “scope, the level, the capacity” of uranium enrichment.

“We are for diplomacy,” and “we are for dialogue,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told NBC News. But the U.S. government needs “to convince us that they are not going to use military force while we are negotiating,” he said. “That is an essential element for our leadership to be in a position to decide about the future round of talks.”