Donald Trump is showing the world just how “over” his peace deal with Iran is—as mediators scrabble to salvage talks for an end to the conflict.
Washington and Tehran both insisted Monday that they alone control the Strait of Hormuz after an intense exchange of fire over the weekend. The vital waterway in the Persian Gulf transports around a fifth of global oil supplies each year and its closure has sent gas prices sharply higher at the pump.
Things kicked off after Iran attacked a container ship on Saturday, with hostilities continuing into Monday morning, the New York Times reports. U.S. military officials say they carried out 140 strikes in an immediate response, with a smaller number of rockets also fired on Sunday.
Iran now says it is targeting American military forces stationed in neighboring allied countries like Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain. President Trump, 80, tried to calm nerves Sunday during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We bombed the hell out of them last night,” he told the network, insisting that the strait remains open.
The Associated Press reports that mediators from Egypt, Pakistan, and Qatar have pushed hard to keep the two sides at the negotiating table. “A regional official involved in mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire continued Sunday,” the outlet writes. “Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran’s top diplomat and urged ‘de-escalation’ on both sides.”
The current flare-up began last week when Iran attacked a number of tankers in the waterway on Tuesday night. Trump responded on Wednesday by declaring his tentative ceasefire agreement, struck last month, was “over.” He promised that “every time they hit us, we’re going to hit them 20 to one.” The U.S. launched 170 strikes between Wednesday and Thursday.
The president has been more evasive about whether the exchange of strikes means a return to full war. “I don’t know,” Trump told reporters that evening en route back from last week’s NATO summit in Turkey. “We’d win it very quickly.”
He then appeared to undercut that statement with a Truth Social post on Friday declaring that “the U.S. military is ready, willing, and able” to “completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.” His post suggested any renewed campaign could last for “a one year period of time, subject to extension.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
