Trump Warns Iran: Open Hormuz or Get ‘Hit Very Hard’ as 48-Hour Deadline Looms

Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei and United States President Donald Trump

Trump Warns Iran: Open Hormuz or Get ‘Hit Very Hard’ as 48-Hour Deadline Looms

United States President Donald Trump has warned Iran it will be “hit very hard” unless the Strait of Hormuz is reopened “very soon,” while insisting that talks between the two sides were ongoing despite Tehran flatly denying any direct negotiations were taking place. Speaking in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday during a visit to California, Trump said he preferred a diplomatic resolution but left no doubt about the consequences of failure. “The strait is going to be open very soon, or they are going to get hit very hard, and then the strait’s going to be open,” he said. “If they back out again, they are going to get hit really hard. They know that. They understand that. I have no choice.” The president also described the planned military operation as extensive and still on the table despite his decision to pause it over the weekend. “It’s very tough to do what we have planned, still planned. We’ll see what happens,” he said, adding that he was “very proud” of giving Iran a chance to negotiate before launching what he suggested would be a large-scale assault. “We hit them very, very hard. But the hard hit is yet to come, and hopefully we won’t have to use it.” Trump simultaneously accused Iran of duplicity for publicly denying it was in talks with Washington. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: “Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman’.” He added that “nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry flatly rejected Trump’s characterisation. Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was not holding direct discussions with the United States and was only engaged in talks with Oman regarding a temporary safe route through the strait. “Discussions are currently focused on a possible navigation corridor for two-way vessel traffic. That initiative is unrelated to negotiations on fully reopening the strait. It is a separate issue,” Baghaei said. Baghaei added that all Iranian negotiators were currently in the country, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq and unavailable for negotiations at least until the end of the week. The only exception, he said, was the ongoing bilateral discussions with Oman as the two coastal states responsible for the waterway.

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According to Axios, which cited unnamed regional and US officials, the United States, Iran, and Oman are nearing an interim agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington hoping to announce the deal as early as Wednesday. The proposed arrangement would be a 60-day agreement for safe passage in the strait between Iran and Oman, with negotiators working on final details. Under the reported framework, ships entering the Persian Gulf would travel north through Iranian territorial waters, while outbound vessels would travel south through Omani waters in coordination with Tehran. The agreement would not involve the collection of transit fees or tolls, and the parties would clear mines from the central shipping lane within 30 days. A US official and one regional source told Axios that Iranian leadership had completed the approval process for the agreement on Tuesday. While US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that progress had been made in discussions with Iran, he noted that talks had not yet been finalized but that the White House was “hoping” for an agreement “in the very near future.”

Iran’s senior officials have taken a defiant stance, warning the United States against any adventurous actions. The Iranian Foreign Ministry reiterated that Tehran views Hormuz as a crucial source of strategic leverage that it cannot afford to surrender, while Washington insists that Iran must not be allowed to control an international waterway. Iran continues to insist that any agreement must leave it in control of the Strait of Hormuz. Regional officials told The Associated Press that any agreement to reopen Hormuz would also require the removal of the current US blockade on Iranian ports. Meanwhile, Iranian military sources have denied Trump’s claim that Tehran asked Washington to call off its strikes, calling his remarks “a new lie,” according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.

The diplomatic confusion was underscored when another cargo vessel was attacked near the strait’s Omani coast on Tuesday. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) reported receiving multiple reports that a tanker had been struck by an unknown projectile approximately eight nautical miles east of Oman’s Limah. The tanker’s crew abandoned the vessel and boarded a lifeboat, with the vessel’s main engine disabled and a bunker tank on fire. The UKMTO did not identify the ship or its owner, and authorities are investigating. Separately, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that two oil tankers had caught fire after explosions while attempting to transit the southern route of the strait, though Reuters could not independently verify the Guards’ statement.

The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices soaring and placed heavy pressure on Trump to stop the fighting, partly because of the effect rising energy prices could have on American voters ahead of the November congressional midterm elections. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had earlier told CNBC that a deal to reopen the strait could come as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, saying there were “hundreds if not 1,000 ships sitting in there waiting to go out,” including tankers carrying oil, fertiliser, refined products and industrial gases. Trump has vowed that Iran will not be permitted to collect transit fees in the strait, declaring, “If anyone is allowed to collect fees, it will be us. We have complete control.” The president had previously said he expected to know by Tuesday how the talks were going, “one way or the other,” but insisted that the path forward is clear. As the 48-hour window unfolds, the world watches to see whether the negotiations will yield a breakthrough or whether Trump will follow through on his threat to unleash a devastating military campaign. “If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be too bad. And we have much more on Iran coming up,” Trump said. All parties remain on high alert, with the potential for a catastrophic escalation in West Asia now greater than at any point since the conflict began.