President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran had reached out seeking to end the war, telling reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, that Tehran “called a little while ago” and wanted “to make a deal so badly.” He immediately questioned whether the Iranian government was “worthy” of one, leaving the future of the month-old ceasefire in doubt after two days of renewed U.S. military strikes.

The remarks capped a combative day for the president. Earlier at the summit, Trump told reporters, “I’m not sure I want to make a deal,” calling Iran’s leaders “scum” and “liars” and saying U.S. negotiators were “wasting their time.” “We can play games, but I’m not sure I want to make a deal,” he said. “Just finish the job.” Asked why he had shifted so quickly from describing Iran’s leaders as “smart” and “rational” only weeks earlier, Trump replied, “I got to know them.”

The latest escalation began Tuesday when U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iranian forces attacked three commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Shortly afterward, the U.S. Treasury Department revoked the waiver that had allowed Iran to resume oil exports under last month’s truce, cutting off a major source of revenue for Tehran.

CENTCOM said U.S. forces struck more than 80 military targets overnight, including air-defense systems, radar installations, anti-ship missile batteries and more than 60 fast boats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. On Wednesday afternoon, the command announced another round of strikes aimed at further degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the strait.

Trump suggested the campaign could broaden further. He said Washington could restore the naval blockade of Iranian ports that had been lifted under the ceasefire and floated the possibility of seizing Kharg Island, Iran’s principal oil-export terminal. He also raised the prospect of targeting Iran’s electrical grid, saying, “It may be a big attack, and it’ll knock out a lot of stuff. We’ll take them out.”

Despite the tough rhetoric, Trump insisted any renewed military campaign would be brief.

“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” he said. “We’re not looking for long-term.”

The president also said he believes he remains a top target of the Iranian government, telling reporters in Ankara, “I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” before joking that he would rather be “No. 1 on TikTok.” He confirmed he would return to Washington aboard an older presidential aircraft instead of the recently delivered plane donated by Qatar, declining to say whether security concerns influenced the decision. The U.S. Justice Department announced in 2024 that it had disrupted an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.

Iran forcefully rejected Trump’s characterization of events.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accused Washington of violating the June agreement “through its unilateral actions” and said Iran would defend its sovereignty. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi called Trump a “criminal,” while another Iranian official described the president’s comments as “disgusting.”

Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote that insults directed at the Iranian people “do not diminish” the country, adding that Iran responds to provocation “with action.” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has played a leading role in negotiations, argued that it was the United States that violated the agreement by restoring oil sanctions, declaring, “The era of bullying and extortion is over. We don’t fold.”

Speaking in Milwaukee, Vice President JD Vance defended the administration’s military response and restated its position.

“The basic deal that we cut was we’ll lift our blockade if you stop shooting at ships — but if you shoot at ships, we are going to punch back, and we’re going to punch back harder than ever before,” Vance said. “If they shoot at ships, we’re going to knock the hell out of them, and it’s that simple.”

At the center of the dispute remains the framework signed on June 17 by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The 14-point memorandum halted military operations, reopened the Strait of Hormuz and lifted the U.S. blockade while giving both sides 60 days to negotiate a broader peace agreement. That negotiating window expires in mid-August, with Washington and Tehran now accusing each other of violating its terms.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner met with mediators in Doha in late June, but no direct talks with senior Iranian officials have been publicly confirmed since then.

For all of the heated rhetoric, Trump stopped short of closing the diplomatic door, saying negotiators “can keep talking if they want.”

Whether Tehran’s reported outreach leads to renewed negotiations or another breakdown may determine whether the ceasefire survives the weeks ahead.

JBizNews Desk | Washington
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