Trump says Iran talks resuming, but threatens to strike civilian infrastructure if a deal can’t be reached

Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy for Peace Missions, will return to Pakistan this week for ceasefire talks with Iranian officials. Photo by Pool /Getty Images

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U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll send representatives to Pakistan for talks to end the Iran war on Monday evening, while again threatening to strike civilian infrastructure if Tehran doesn’t agree to a deal.

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“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” he said in a social media post early Sunday.

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The U.S. leader told Fox News that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Islamabad for talks on Tuesday that could last until Wednesday. The New York Post reported that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will also participate in the talks to end a war that’s killed thousands. The announcement came after Iran reversed its decision to reopen shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in response to a U.S. blockade.

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The standoff over Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil flowed before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — threatens to deepen the global energy crisis and undermine expectations of an imminent peace deal. Hormuz is one of several unresolved issues in peace talks, including Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s ongoing invasion of Lebanon.

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“Ships are awaiting instructions from Iran’s armed forces to determine whether they can pass through the route,” Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday.

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Still, late Saturday, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation in talks with the U.S. earlier this month in Pakistan, said that while gaps “remain significant,” the negotiations are making progress. He added that Iran’s armed forces are prepared to act even as discussions take place.

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“It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,” he said in a televised address, referring to the U.S. naval blockade.

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Meanwhile, the U.S. military is preparing to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters in the coming days to pressure Iran into reopening Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing anonymous American officials. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the Journal’s reporting.

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Navy issued a statement Saturday afternoon warning vessels not to leave their anchorages in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and that approaching the strait “will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the violating vessel will be targeted.”

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“They wanted to close up the strait again like they’ve been doing for years and they can’t blackmail us,” Trump told reporters Saturday about Iran, although the strait was fully open until the U.S. and Israel began their bombing campaign seven weeks ago. “We’ll have some information by the end of the day, you know. We’re talking to them. We’re taking a tough stand.”

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Whiplash

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The developments of the last 72 hours illustrate the unpredictable nature of the conflict as well as the erratic — and sometimes contradictory — nature of Trump’s comments.

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The president on Friday said a deal with Iran was all but agreed to, including concessions Tehran has never publicly made, signalling he was ready to sign and move on to domestic issues. He even told ABC News that he trusted the Iranians, a group whose civilization he just recently threatened to wipe out.

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But crucially, Trump left a blockade of the strait in place until an agreement was finalized.

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Iran called the blockade a ceasefire violation and moved to close the waterway again. That prompted Trump’s latest diatribe, in which he renewed threats on Iran’s civilian infrastructure if they didn’t cut a deal.