Trump says he expects 'to be bombing' Iran again if deal not reached as talks remain in limbo

LAST UPDATE | 3 hrs ago

DONALD TRUMP HAS said he “expects to be bombing” Iran if the country fails to reach an agreement with the United States to end the war. 

It comes amid uncertainty over whether talks between Washington and Tehran that were expected to take place in Pakistan will go ahead. 

The White House said vice president JD Vance was ready to fly back to Islamabad, but Tehran’s government has declined to confirm that it would participate and accused the US of violating the truce through its blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of a ship.

“By imposing a blockade and violating the ceasefire, Trump wants to turn this negotiating table into a surrender table or justify renewed hostilities, as he sees fit,” said Iran’s powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed the delegations to talks in the Pakistani capital two weeks ago.

“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the last two weeks we have been preparing to show new cards on the battlefield,” he wrote on X.

The two-week ceasefire is due to expire on Wednesday. 

Speaking during a phone-in interview with CNBC, the US president was unclear about whether he would extend the truce if there is no progress in Pakistan.

“Iran can get themselves on a very good footing if they make a deal,” Trump said.

Asked if he would carry out his previous threats to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants – something many analysts say could constitute war crimes – Trump said “it’s not my choice but it will also hurt them.”

He said the US is in a “very, very strong negotiating position”, before insisting: “We’re going to end up with a great deal. I think they have no choice.”

Asked whether he would resume bombing Iran if the prospect of a deal was not on the table, he said: “Well I expect to be bombing cause I think that’s a better attitude to go in with.

Advertisement

“But we’re ready to go. I mean the military is raring to go. They are absolutely incredible.”

Strait of Hormuz

Trump also told CNBC that the US had intercepted a ship in the Strait of Hormuz carrying a “gift” to Iran from China as Tehran tries to restock its military during the ceasefire.

The ship had “a gift from China” which “wasn’t very nice,” he told CNBC. “I was a little surprised,” he added, saying he thought he had an “understanding” with China’s President Xi Jinping.

A week ago, Trump announced that Xi had assured him there would be no Chinese weapons deliveries to Iran, a close partner with Beijing for years.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned of targeting any vessel attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without permission.

Trump earlier accused Iran of violating the ceasefire “numerous times” in a post on his Truth Social platform, without elaborating.

He previously said Tehran had violated the truce by harassing vessels in the key strait, the transit passage for about a fifth of the world’s oil that Iran had all but shut in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel on 28 February.

The channel sees around 120 daily transits in peacetime, according to Lloyd’s List, a shipping industry intelligence site.

The site reported today that more than 20 Iranian “shadow vessels” had transited past the US blockade.

Based on its start time, the ceasefire theoretically expires overnight tonight, Tehran time, although Trump said in comments to Bloomberg the end was a day later, on Wednesday evening Washington time.

Oil prices fell today while most stocks rose on lingering hopes for a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel-Lebanon talks

A separate ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon was announced on Friday and included Hezbollah, whose rocket fire in support of Iran drew Lebanon into the war.

Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, will hold a second round of talks in Washington on Thursday, a State Department official told news agency AFP.

Related Reads

'NO MORE MR NICE GUY': Trump again threatens Iran's power plants over Hormuz closure

Trade ships fired upon in Strait of Hormuz after Iran closes critical trade route again

Iran declares Strait of Hormuz 'completely open' to commercial shipping for ceasefire period

Sporadic violence continued and Israel’s military warned civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah’s activities were violating the truce.

The UN Security Council condemned on Monday the killing of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon, whose death Paris blamed on Hezbollah.

The Frenchman was killed and three others wounded when their unit was ambushed on Saturday as it headed to a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) outpost cut off from the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told AFP that his group would work to break the “Yellow Line” that Israel has established in the south, even as he said it wanted “the ceasefire to continue”.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,387 people since the start of the war, a Lebanese government body said in its latest toll.

Another major issue in the US-Iran negotiations has been Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

Trump, who previously said Iran had agreed to hand over the uranium, said late on Monday that doing so would be “long” and “difficult” after US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites last year.

“Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process.”

Trump uses the term “nuclear dust” to refer to Iran’s stock of enriched uranium, which the United States accuses Iran of hoarding in order to make an atomic bomb.

Iran’s foreign ministry said earlier that the stockpile was “not going to be transferred anywhere” and that the option was “never raised” in talks with US negotiators.

With reporting from © AFP 2026 

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More Support The Journal