Trump threatens to 'blow up' Oman amid Hormuz dispute

Trump says US ‘not satisfied’ in talks with Iran, days after claiming deal imminent

President reiterates call for Gulf states to join Abraham Accords, implies talks slowing as US denies committing to lifting blockade, pulling troops from region under purported draft agreement

US President Donald Trump indicated during a Wednesday cabinet meeting that progress in talks with Iran on a deal to end the war had slowed, departing from his assertion at the start of the week that an agreement was nearly finalized.

Iran “wants to make a deal,” but the US is “not satisfied” yet with what it is seeing, Trump said at the White House, threatening that the US will “have to just finish the job” if talks fizzle out.

The president later suggested he may not sign a deal with Iran if neighboring Gulf countries do not normalize ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords.

“I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t… join the Abraham Accords,” Trump said, referring Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and others. He insisted they “owe it” to the US after Washington launched the war against Iran — a conflict that placed them in Tehran’s crosshairs for weeks.

Trump tied Iran talks with the Abraham Accords for the first time on Sunday, seemingly in a bid to secure diplomatic wins amid questionable results on the battlefield, with the Islamic Republic still in power and in control of missile and uranium stockpiles as well as the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi officials were quick to reiterate that Riyadh will only normalize ties with Israel if the latter agrees to establish an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to reject.

In Wednesday’s meeting, Trump took a step back from the bluster when asked if he would go as far as to specifically make the Iran deal contingent on countries normalizing ties with Israel.

“I’m not going to [tell] you what’s contingent, and what’s not,” he responded.

Tehran and Washington have in recent days been swapping proposals to end the war, which broke out on February 28 and engulfed the Middle East, while a fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.

Trump declared Saturday that an agreement was “largely negotiated” and that the details would be “announced shortly,” but talks appeared to slow in the days that followed.

US: Iranian report of draft proposal ‘complete fabrication’

The Wednesday cabinet meeting was held shortly after the White House denied an Iranian state media report claiming the US had “committed itself” to lifting its naval blockade on Iran and withdrawing troops from the region in exchange for Iranian concessions on maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has kept tight control over the vital global energy conduit, while the US has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and coasts since April 13.

According to the report, Iran would gradually reopen commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz over the course of a month, but continue to manage shipping lanes, inspect vessels, and impose service fees on ships — measures which have only been imposed since the war.

Iran’s commitments would not apply to military vessels, and Tehran had not agreed “to unconditionally reopen the strait,” the draft added.

On the withdrawal of US troops from the region, the reported draft said Washington had given “a commitment to the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding this issue.”

The White House blasted the report as false, calling it a “complete fabrication.”

“This report from Iranian controlled media is not true and the MOU they ‘released’ is a complete fabrication. Nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out. FACTS MATTER,” the White House said on X, lashing out at US media for publishing the claims.

Trump appeared to again reject aspects of the Iranian report in the cabinet meeting, insisting that the Strait of Hormuz will “open immediately” in any deal, rather than over the course of a month as detailed in the draft proposal.

“One of the things that will happen is the strait will open immediately,” Trump said, highlighting something that was not even an issue before the war was launched by the US and Israel.

When asked whether he would accept a deal that gives Iran and Oman temporary control over the Strait of Hormuz, he rejected the prospect. “No, the strait is going to be open to everybody… It’s international waters. Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it,” he said.

Trump also appeared to threaten Oman, a long-time mediator in the region.

“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, and they’ll be fine,” he added.

Trump refused to confirm or deny whether the memorandum of understanding under discussion would defer talks on Iran’s enriched uranium and its wider nuclear program to a subsequent negotiation, as has been widely reported.

The president also repeated his claim that the US has brought about regime change in Iran, even though the Islamic Republic is still in power. As he has done many times in recent weeks, he again posited that the country’s “new leaders” are “much more reasonable” and “smarter” than their predecessors.

“We can make a good deal right now, but maybe not a great deal,” Trump said, insisting that he only wants to sign a great deal.

‘Some progress’ made in talks

Though US officials at the meeting indicated Washington prefers a diplomatic settlement, they did not rule out military action, offering little-to-no new details on the status of negotiations.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “some progress” had been made in talks. “We’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made.”

The top diplomat reiterated that Trump’s administration would prefer a diplomatic path to ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, but that Washington “ha[s] other options available” if talks do not succeed.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth chalked up Tehran’s willingness to negotiate to its weakness following the joint US-Israeli offensive, claiming that Tehran — despite retaining some missiles — could no longer build new ones.

“They may have missiles, but they can’t build more right now,” he said. “They can’t build more drones right now, and they can’t build more ships, and so they came and cried ‘uncle’ to talk.”

Touting the US blockade of Iranian ports, Hegseth said, “No Iranian tanker around the globe is safe, and we’ve seen seizures all around the globe, choking off their economic lifeblood.”