Trump warns of intensified strikes if Iran rejects deal
Iran said it is reviewing the US proposal and will relay its response through mediator Pakistan.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned the United States would resume bombing Iran “at a much higher level and intensity” if it doesn’t agree to a deal.
“Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Trump appeared to be referring to a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, first reported by Axios on Wednesday. The outlet said the Trump administration believes it is nearing an agreement on the document, which would establish a framework for more detailed negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
The White House did not immediately return an Al-Monitor request for comment.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday that Tehran was reviewing the US proposal.
“After finalizing its considerations, Iran will convey its views to the Pakistani side,” Baghaei said in an interview with the semiofficial news agency ISNA.
On Tuesday evening, Trump announced he was pausing, “for a short period of time,” a US maritime operation that began a day earlier to guide commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the naval operation as necessary to stop what he described as Iran’s “last-ditch act of economic arson.” Some 20,000 seafarers have been stranded in the Gulf since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz following the US and Israeli launch of the war on Feb. 28.
Rubio urged the Iranian government “to make a sensible choice” and return to the negotiating table. The two countries held one round of direct talks in Islamabad on April 12 led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said in an X post on Wednesday that Islamabad is “hopeful that the current momentum” will lead to a lasting agreement between Tehran and Washington.
This breaking story has been updated since it was first published.
