President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. would “bomb the s— out of” Oman if the Gulf nation “gets in the way,” as Washington’s 60-day ceasefire with Iran expires with no official negotiations or deal in sight.
Trump also claimed that informal talks are taking place with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, but said he is “not in a hurry” to make a deal.
“They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” Trump said in a Fox News interview.
Trump doubled down on his claims hours later, telling reporters in the Oval Office he’s not looking to extend the U.S. ceasefire deal with Iran, which was signed in mid-June and is set to lapse Monday.
“No,” Trump said when asked if he would seek an extension of that temporary truce.
When asked again about Oman, Trump said the longtime U.S. strategic ally hasn’t “behaved very well.”
“But we’d handle them very easily, just like we do other things,” Trump added.
The 60-day memorandum of understanding with Iran was initially touted as a major step toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz and clearing a path to finalizing a long-term deal on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
But the agreement was largely disregarded within weeks, as each side repeatedly accused the other of violating its terms. Military operations resumed in the region soon after; in mid-July, Trump declared the ceasefire over.
Since then, Trump has repeatedly insisted Iran wants to make a peace agreement with the U.S.
“They want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday when asked if the two sides are making any progress.
But Tehran has denied that negotiations with the U.S. are underway. Rather, Iran says it is in active talks with Oman over a deal to reopen the Hormuz Strait. The waterway has been largely blocked to commercial transit compared to prewar levels, when 20% of the world’s oil trade would pass through it.
In a Truth Social post Monday morning, Trump reiterated the U.S. stance that Iran must agree to give up on possessing nuclear weapons.
“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote.
Hormuz traffic grinds to a halt
The president’s latest remarks came after shipping traffic through the strait slowed nearly to a halt over the weekend.
Only three ships passed through the critical oil passage Sunday, according to data from Kpler. The five-day average for transits stands at 12. Around 130 vessels crossed Hormuz daily before the war started on Feb. 28.
HSBC shipping expert Parash Jain told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday morning that investors should understand “chaos is the norm” for the industry and factor it into their base assumptions.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the two sides do “not have anything like a ceasefire,” according to quotes from Iranian news outlet Shahrara News on Saturday.
“No negotiations have been held between the United States and us at this time. … Qatar and Pakistan are exchanging messages between the parties and are in contact with us, but this does not mean negotiations,” Araghchi said, according to the quotes.
However, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, insisted in a post on X on Friday that the strait will remain “Iranian” and only be closed and opened “under Iran’s command.”
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