President Donald Trump revealed Sunday night that Iran was ‘desperate’ during peace negotiations and Tehran ended discussions when their demand for nuclear weapons was denied.
Trump exited Air Force One on Sunday night at Joint Base Andrews where he revealed details of the failed negotiations in Pakistan – while insisting he will prevent Iran from obtaining nukes.
‘They still want it, and they made that clear the other night,’ the commander-in-chief told reporters about their discussions with Vice President JD Vance.
‘I think Iran is in very bad shape. I think they’re pretty desperate. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.’
Authorities in Iran have long fought to make nuclear bombs, even including the right to enrich uranium in a 10-point peace plan they submitted ahead of the peace talks in Islamabad this weekend.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later claimed the proposal Iranian officials released differed from the one they sent the president.
She then insisted that the president’s ‘red lines, namely the end of Iranian enrichment in Iran, have not changed.’
Trump doubled down on that point Sunday, hours after announcing that peace talks with his Iranian counterparts had failed.
President Donald Trump announced Sunday night that peace talks with Iranian officials ended when they pushed for nuclear weapons
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan with Special Envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff for the peace talks. The vice president is now said to believe a deal remains on the table
A US official familiar with the deliberations previously told The Daily Mail that at the outset of the talks, it was clear that the Iranians did not properly apprehend America’s core objective, which was that any potential deal has and always would have at its center the fact that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon.
Over the course of the deliberations, Vance corrected this misunderstanding and used his time with his counterparts to probe their own assessments of their positions, per the US official.
Yet Vance believes a deal still remains on the table, the official said, and that it is on the Iranians to accept it.
But when asked Sunday night how long he thinks it would be before Iranian officials returned to the negotiating table, Trump took a cold hard stance against more talks.
‘I don’t care if they come back or not,’ he said. ‘If they don’t come back, I’m fine.’
In the meantime, the US will start blockading ships trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes.
The blockade is scheduled to start at 10am ET on Monday, though vessels using the strait to travel to and from non-Iranian ports will not be impeded.
Trump announced earlier on Sunday that the US will start blockading ships trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz (pictured), a narrow waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has since hit back, claiming that Iran has ‘large, untouched levers’ to strike back against Trump’s blockage, quipping that they cannot be pressured by ‘tweets and imaginary plans.’
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf – who led negotiations with JD Vance on behalf of Iran – warned Americans that ‘soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4-$5 gas,’ The New York Times reported.
Oil prices were already rising in early market trading Sunday night after the US announced the blockade.
The price of US crude oil rose eight percent to $104.24 a barrel and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose seven percent to $102.29.
Brent crude has swung dramatically during the month-plus long Iran war, rising from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times.
On Friday, ahead of the peace talks, Brent for June delivery fell 0.8 percent to $95.20 per barrel.
Rachel Ziemba of the Center for a New American Progress suggested that the period for negotiations to slow this process down may be over.
‘The de-escalation window for the global economy, such as it was, is over for now,’ she told The Wall Street Journal. ‘Iran is betting they can hold out longer than the US and the global economy.’
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei promised Iran has ‘large, untouched levers’ to strike back against Trump’s blockage, quipping that they cannot be pressured by ‘tweets and imaginary plans’
In this photo released by the Pakistan Prime Minister Office, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, left, shakes hand with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif prior to their meeting on Saturday
Traffic in the Strait has been limited even in the days since the ceasefire. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the start of the ceasefire.
Trump has claimed that the threat posed by the Iranian Navy is ‘gone’ from the waterway due to the US military assault on the nation since February 28.
‘Their military is destroyed,’ he told reporters Sunday night. ‘Their whole navy is underwater. You know that 158 ships are gone? Their navy is gone. Most of their mine-droppers are gone.’
But experts have warned that the smaller boats that control the Strait remain intact, which David Des Roches, a former director responsible for Persian Gulf policy at the Department of Defense, said are well-versed in controlling the crucial chokepoint by deploying missiles and mines, and by harassing commercial ships.
Tehran has also warned of possible antiship mines, urging vessels to follow new coastal routes with Revolutionary Guard guidance – and warning that unauthorized ships trying to cross into the strait would be destroyed.
This means the US servicemen sent to the narrow waterway – which is only about 35 kilometers wide – will be sitting ducks for attacks by the IRGC.
All of the traffic passing through the strait has since ended following Trump’s blockade announcement, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, which noted that two vessels that were set to leave the waterway have turned around.
Oil prices were already rising in early market trading Sunday night after the US announced the blockade. Gas prices are pictured in California last Wednesday
At the same time, Trump said Sunday morning he instructed the US Navy ‘to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.’
‘No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,’ the president warned on his Truth Social platform.
‘Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!’ he added.
In a separate interview on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, the president said NATO would ‘begrudgingly’ support the US in securing the Strait. He called NATO ‘shameful,’ claiming that ‘they weren’t there for us, and they won’t be there for us.’
Trump then doubled down on those remarks Sunday night, suggesting to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that America’s financial commitment to the organization would be under ‘very serious’ examination.
‘I’m very disappointed in NATO,’ Trump said. ‘They weren’t there for us. We pay trillions of dollars for NATO and they weren’t there for us.’
Even though NATO countries have expressed their desire to assist the US, the president described the efforts as being too late.
‘Now they want to come up, but there’s no real threat anymore,’ Trump said as he insisted that despite the setbacks, a contentious two-week ceasefire – in which both sides agreed to stop fighting in exchange for opening the strait – was ‘holding well.’
