Economist Mark Zandi says Trump has a week to strike Iran deal before US faces a 'real problem'

Mark Zandi thinks Trump has about a week to strike an Iran deal before the US has bigger problems.

Absent a peace deal, oil prices could soar again, triggering a US recession, he said.

Other forecasters have warned that it won't be long before economic damage from the war is more visible.

The halting peace negotiations between the US and Iran need to result in a deal soon if the US is going to avoid deeper economic pain.

That's according to Moody's top economist Mark Zandi, who said Donald Trump has about a week to secure a peace deal before the effects of the war make it more likely that the economy will fall into a recession.

According to reports on Monday, Iran has said that it will cease negotiations and block the Strait of Hormuz until key demands are met. That's bad news for Trump, who has teased a deal for weeks with nothing concrete to show for it. Oil spiked on Monday morning, with Brent and US crude prices rising by about 7%.

Zandi said at the end of last week that the ongoing surge in oil prices will have a more meaningful impact on consumers and the economy if they do not come back down in the next week.

The spike in crude has already pushed the US to the precipice of a recession — and the hope is that a peace deal could cool oil prices enough to take the US from the critical threshold that could spark a downturn, Zandi said, speaking to Bloomberg on Friday.