US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he expected to resume bombing Iran, as a fragile 14-day ceasefire approaches its deadline on Wednesday with no deal in sight.
“I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” Trump told CNBC. “We’re ready to go. The military is raring to go.”
When asked if he would extend the ceasefire, he replied: “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.”
He added the US was in a strong negotiating position and would ultimately secure what he called a great deal – though on what timeline, and at what cost, remained unclear.
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The remarks came alongside a Truth Social post in which Trump accused Tehran of having “Violated the Cease Fire numerous times.” – an allegation that appeared to lay the groundwork for justifying resumed strikes.
Despite his sharp tongue, Trump at the same time indicated a fresh round of negotiations was still on the table, with US vice president JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, expected to arrive in Islamabad for a second round of talks.
The whiplash and confusion between war and peace talks has become the hallmark of Trump’s approach to the war. On Monday alone, he bounced between a potential deal being close and warning that “lots of bombs” would “start going off” if negotiations failed.
Earlier in the month, he threatened extinction on “a whole civilization” of Iran, and that its civilians were actively welcoming US strikes on their country’s infrastructure.
Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon secretary, last week said the US is “locked and loaded” to finish destroying Iran’s energy grid.
After the CNBC interview, Trump turned his Tuesday morning fire homeward. In a Truth Social post, he urged the US people not to let “traitor Democrats” criticise last June’s “Operation Midnight Hammer”, claiming the mission had “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites and that satellites were watching all three locations around the clock.
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Iran showed no sign of softening. Ghalibaf posted on X early Tuesday that “we do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats”, while accusing Washington of seeking Iranian surrender rather than a genuine settlement. The country’s military commander meanwhile, warned of an “immediate and decisive response” to any resumed hostilities.
The standoff has shaken global energy markets. Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, described the situation as “the biggest crisis in history”, warning that the combined impact of the conflict’s effects on oil, alongside the ongoing Russian gas crisis, was without precedent.
Meanwhile, the US military said its forces had boarded a tanker under sanctions for trading with Iran, the Tifani, in an operation that took place “without incident”.
The vessel last reported its position on Tuesday morning as near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to MarineTraffic tracking data. It was close to fully loaded with 2 million barrels of crude and had signalled Singapore as its destination.
“As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran – anywhere they operate,” US Central Command said.
There was no immediate Iranian response to the boarding, but it appeared likely to complicate efforts to persuade Iran to attend the talks.
Iranian officials have publicly cited a US blockade of their ships as a reason not to negotiate.
Iran has largely blocked off the Strait of Hormuz which controls access to the Gulf, to all ships but its own. It had announced last week that it would reopen the strait, but reversed that decision on Saturday after Trump refused to lift his blockade of Iranian ports. – The Guardian and Reuters
