Trump says US nearing choice between new strikes on Iran and a deal

US may “blow them up” or “make a deal,” says Trump regarding Iran talks.

By World Israel News Staff

President Donald Trump said that efforts to reach an agreement with Iran will be concluded in the near future, either through the signing of an agreement or with the resumption of strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump was asked how Washington could negotiate successfully with Iranian leaders he has repeatedly portrayed as irrational.

“Maybe you blow them up. Maybe you blow them up,” Trump responded. “We have to make that decision. We blow them up, make a deal. But the time is coming. It’s going to end very soon, one way or the other.”

The remarks came as US-Iran diplomacy remained deadlocked despite a renewed effort by Qatar to mediate between the two sides.

Iran last week submitted a proposal aimed at restoring the ceasefire that collapsed earlier this year. Under the plan, Tehran would move to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to normal shipping within seven days if Washington took a series of steps that included ending its blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump publicly rejected the Iranian offer over the weekend, but diplomatic exchanges continued afterward.

Iranian officials said Wednesday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had received a formal US response through Qatari mediators and presented it to President Masoud Pezeshkian and other members of the government in Tehran.

The contents of the American response have not been made public.

Officials familiar with the mediation have indicated that Washington and Tehran agree on some of the broad steps needed to reduce the fighting but remain divided over their sequence, with each side seeking concessions from the other before carrying out its own commitments.

The negotiations followed indirect contacts in New York during the United Nations General Assembly, where Qatari representatives shuttled between American and Iranian officials.

Those contacts failed to produce a breakthrough, and tensions surrounding the talks escalated further when Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the visiting Iranian delegation to leave the United States after officials concluded the negotiations had stalled.

An American official said the Iranian representatives had “overstayed their welcome.” Iranian officials disputed the characterization that they had been expelled, saying their departure plans had already been communicated to Washington.

Trump has repeatedly argued that the pressure generated by the war and the damage to Iran’s economy will ultimately force Tehran to accept US terms.

“I don’t know if they are going to give up yet but they’ll give up,” Trump said earlier this week. “They are doing very poorly.”

“We’re literally running the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said of the strategic waterway. “We have total control. I guess that’s always subject to change, you know, if they drop one mine.”