Even as Donald Trump suggested the Iran war could be over within a week, Tehran was issuing fresh threats on Sunday, warning of imminent “special events” targeting Tel Aviv and American allies in the Gulf that it said would “completely remove the hope of negotiations from the minds of the aggressors.”
The warning, relayed through Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency, came on a day of sharply contradictory signals from both sides — with Trump floating the possibility of a negotiated settlement while Iranian officials flatly rejected any suggestion that talks were underway or imminent.
Trump had earlier announced a pause on strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure, prompting Iranian state television to declare that the US president had “backed down” out of fear of Tehran’s response. The president pushed back against that characterisation, saying that if upcoming talks went well the conflict could conclude within days, before adding in characteristic fashion: “Otherwise, we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.”
He went further still, suggesting the Strait of Hormuz — the critical waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes — could ultimately be jointly managed by himself and Iran’s Supreme Leader once hostilities ceased. Trump also claimed Tehran might be willing to relinquish its nuclear ambitions as part of any final agreement.
Iranian officials wasted little time in dismissing those claims. Sources cited by Fars stated bluntly that “there were no negotiations”, and set out a series of conditions that would need to be met before either the war ended or the strait reopened — including a full US military withdrawal from the region, the evacuation of American bases, financial compensation, and binding guarantees against any repetition of military action. An unnamed foreign policy analyst quoted in the same outlet was equally dismissive, saying that “no sane official in Iran would indulge in such foolishness” as negotiating with Washington.
Iranian officials also made clear that even in the event of a ceasefire, the status of the Strait of Hormuz would not revert to what it was before the conflict began — a statement that will alarm energy markets and Western governments already grappling with the economic consequences of the waterway’s prolonged closure.
The exchange underscored the vast gulf that remains between the two sides, despite Trump’s optimistic public framing. On Saturday, the president had issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding the strait be fully reopened or face further strikes — a threat that now appears to have been deferred rather than resolved.
