President additionally claims US is in direct contact with IRGC, denies a rush to finish battle forward of November’s US midterm elections.
Printed On 17 Aug 2026
US President Donald Trump has demanded that Iran surrender, because the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the USA and Iran, agreed a number of months in the past and geared toward ending hostilities, has expired.
Throughout an interview with Fox Information on Monday, Trump stated that Iran ought to “put up the white flag of give up” within the five-month US-Israel conflict on Iran. The decision is simply the newest within the rhetorical tit-for-tat between the US and Washington as mediators proceed to work to attempt to convey the events again to the negotiating desk.
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Trump stated his administration had opened a direct backchannel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), however claimed that he was in no rush to finish a battle over which he has misplaced vital management and that has damage his political help.
“They’re good poker gamers, however they’re dying,” the US president stated of the IRGC.
Nevertheless, Trump additionally insisted that he’s in no hurry to achieve a deal regardless of November’s upcoming US midterm elections, through which the opposition Democrats are searching for to take management of Congress.
“I’ve no time schedule … I’m not in a rush,” the president asserted.
Risk to Oman
Moderately, Trump as soon as once more sought to venture power, threatening that he might bomb US ally Oman if it “will get in the best way” of a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded.
“If Oman will get in the best way, we’ll bomb the s*** out of them,” he stated in the course of the interview.
Iranian and Omani officers have been speaking for weeks on future maritime navigation preparations by means of the transport route, and the Overseas Ministry in Tehran stated earlier on Monday that the 2 sides have been engaged on a joint declaration.
Iranian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stated the proposed mechanism would search to guard the pursuits of each Iran and Oman whereas sustaining industrial transport.
“That is the primary time {that a} mechanism is being developed to concurrently safeguard the sovereign rights of the 2 littoral states and make sure the protected passage of business vessels,” stated Baghaei.
Expired truce
Trump’s remarks got here as the MoU expired, with neither facet indicating willingness to increase the settlement. Each have accused the opposite of violating the truce because it got here into impact in mid-June.
“We have now not but decided to restart negotiations with the USA,” Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a submit on Telegram on Saturday.
On Friday, Trump claimed that he would even declare the Strait of Hormuz a part of US territory, whereas Iran retorted that the essential vitality waterway it has blockaded “will stay Iranian”.
