The president's comments came in a nearly 20-minute news conference Thursday afternoon with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, with Trump weighing in on several global trouble spots, including Iran, North Korea and Libya.

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“Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement, and they have to do that, they have to do that,” the president said.

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Asked whether Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, was mentally unstable, Trump demurred.

“I can't answer your question on stability,” he said. “I hope the answer is a positive one, not a negative one. But, hopefully, that will be something that gets taken care of.”

The president also repeated his calls for China to play a larger role in helping pressure North Korea, a dictatorship whose nuclear weapons program has caused deep consternation around the world and created special tension with the United States.

Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a strong relationship of mutual respect — while noting that he told Xi that he plans to use trade negotiations as a bargaining chip to force China to engage more on pushing North Korea to limit its nuclear ambitions.

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“I actually told him, I said, ‘You’ll make a much better deal on trade if you get rid of this menace or doing something about the menace of North Korea, because that’s what it is, it’s a menace right now,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens.”

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And shortly after the Italian prime minister said that a U.S. role in Libya was critical, Trump, in response to a question about whether he believes his administration should play a part in helping to stabilize that country, said bluntly, “I do not see a role in Libya.”

“I think the United States has, right now, enough roles,” he said. “We’re in a role everywhere, so I do not see that.”

But, he added, “I do see a role in getting rid of ISIS.” ISIS is an alternative acronym for the Islamic State militant group.