Trump issues chilling new ultimatum for Iran to make a peace deal as talks on brink of collapse
Donald Trump has warned Iran that it should strike a deal within a day or he’ll end the ceasefire and launch a new wave of strikes.
‘We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,’ Trump told the New York Post after dispatching Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan to lead peace talks.
It’s his latest salvo in a string of ultimatums against the Islamic Republic that has defined the President’s handling of the war.
‘We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made – even better than what we did previously, and we blew them apart,’ he said.
‘And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.’
The upcoming peace talks are expected to center on Trump’s demands that Iran surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.
In a Truth Social post later on Friday, Trump said the Iranians ‘don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!’
Tehran, meanwhile, is pushing for immediate relief from US sanctions, continued control over the strait, and compensation for wartime damages.
‘We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,’ Trump told the New York Post
The aftermath of an Israeli strike in Lebanon. Iran claims a ceasefire in Lebanon is key to peace talks with the regime and US
JD Vance is heading to Pakistan to meet with the Iranian delegation
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that peace talks were not going well, accusing the US of already violating the terms of the ceasefire.
Qalibaf said two key measures previously agreed upon have yet to be carried out, including a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, and the release of frozen assets.
Trump on Thursday pressured Israel to slow down attacks on Lebanon as the strikes threatened to thwart peace talks with Iran.
The President admitted that he’d told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘to be sort of a little more low-key’ as Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff lead negotiations in Islamabad.
US and Israeli officials described Trump’s phone call with Netanyahu on Thursday as ‘tense’, according to CNN.
An Israeli source said that Netanyahu believed if he did not immediately call for direct talks with Lebanon then Trump would simply declare a ceasefire on his behalf.
Shortly after the call, Netanyahu announced he would engage with Lebanese authorities in peace talks.
US officials are concerned that Israel’s campaign against Lebanon could crumble the fragile three-day-old ceasefire before the peace talks even begin.
US and Israeli officials described Trump’s phone call with Netanyahu on Thursday as ‘tense’
The President’s rising unfavourability appears to have been driven in part by surging gas prices after the strait’s closure, with the national average climbing to $4.10 per gallon
According to the latest Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, American voters were ‘relieved’ that the President decided to take the off-ramp instead of escalating the war.
The survey found that 33 percent of voters view the deal as a good outcome for the United States, compared to 18 percent who see it as a bad one.
Another 28 percent of respondents said they feel neutral about the agreement, while 20 percent remain unsure, underscoring the public’s mixed but measured reaction.
The President’s falling approval appears to have been driven in part by surging gas prices after the strait’s closure, with the national average climbing to $4.20 per gallon.