Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran’s power plants and bridges unless the regime quickly agrees to peace terms, with the fragile ceasefire agreement set to expire within days.
The president took to social media on Sunday in an effort to bring Tehran in for talks with new threats against civilian infrastructure, as Iranian officials said the two sides remained far apart on key issues.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” the president wrote on his Truth social platform.
Trump reportedly told Fox News that “the whole country is getting blown up” if Iran turns down the latest US offer. The comments came just a day after Iran’s deputy foreign minister said they were not ready for a second round of direct talks, as the Americans “have not yet abandoned their maximalist position”.
A White House official told The Independent that JD Vance would be heading for Islamabad with the usual negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Pakistan was rolling out new security measures in the capital in anticipation of their arrival.
Trump was confident that Iran would agree to a deal, telling ABC News: “It will happen, one way or the other. The nice way or the hard way. It’s going to happen.”
There was no immediate confirmation from Iran that diplomats would even attend any new talks, however. The Tasnim news agency reported that no decision had been taken to send a delegation, with the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz still in place.
Iran’s armed forces turned back two gas tankers on Sunday after Tehran said it was closing the channel again, citing the continued US naval blockade to the east. There had been a momentary thawing of tensions on Friday when Iran said it would reopen the strait for the duration of the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Trump said attacks on Saturday against commercial shipping in the strait marked “a total violation of our ceasefire agreement”. He claimed a French ship and a British freighter were targeted, adding: “That wasn’t nice, was it?”
The British Ministry of Defence said there had been no reports of any UK-linked ships coming under fire in the strait on Saturday, however.
Iran’s top negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told State TV late on Saturday that the Iranian side felt progress had been made in talks with the US, but that there was still “a big distance” between the two sides.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian continued to insist on Iran’s right to nuclear materials, after Trump said Iran had already agreed to give it up.
“Trump says Iran cannot make use of its nuclear rights, but doesn’t say for what crime. Who is he to deprive a nation of its rights?” Pezeshkian said, as reported by the Iranian Student News Agency on Sunday.
With the ceasefire set to run out on Tuesday unless a deal is made, European diplomats said that they had been shut out of discussions and feared the US negotiating team was rushing into a quick win that could cause trouble in future.
Eight senior European diplomats with past experience of dealing with Tehran shared with Reuters their concern for the state of diplomacy, warning that Trump’s team could end up agreeing to a superficial deal that only makes matters worse later on.
“The concern isn’t that there won’t be an agreement,” said one of the diplomats. “It’s that there will be a bad initial agreement that creates endless downstream problems.”
Another said resolving the nuclear dispute – which Iran agrees is the most contentious – would be a challenge.
“The Americans think you agree on three or four points in a five‑page document and that’s it, but on the nuclear file, every clause opens the door to a dozen more disputes,” a second European diplomat said.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dismissed the criticisms, saying: “President Trump has a proven track record of achieving good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first.”
