WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran was letting 10 ‌oil tankers transit the Strait of Hormuz as ‌an apparent goodwill gesture in negotiations.

Trump made the comments at a ​Cabinet meeting in the White House, elaborating on what he had previously described as a "present" from Iran.

"They said, to show you the fact that we're real and solid ‌and we're there, ⁠we're going to let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big ⁠boats of oil," Trump said. "I guess they were right, and they were real, and I think they were Pakistani-flagged... ​It ended ​up being 10 boats."

The ​White House did not ‌immediately respond to a request for more details on the vessels.

Trump's comments came as he pressed Iran to agree to a deal that would clear the maritime chokepoint and end its nuclear program.

The U.S. president on Tuesday ‌had baffled some observers when ​he said that Iran had given ​the United States ​an expensive, energy-related concession. At the time, ‌he declined to say what ​exactly he ​meant.

"They gave us a present and the present arrived today, and it was a very big present, ​worth a tremendous ‌amount of money," Trump told reporters then.

(Reporting by ​Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by ​Caitlin Webber and Chizu Nomiyama)