The comments mark a new low in relations between the rivals after gunfire this week undermined a shaky agreement aimed at turning a months-long ceasefire into a lasting peace and threatened a return to all-out regional war.
On Saturday, Trump ramped up the rhetoric between the warring sides, threatening in a Truth Social post to “totally destroy” Iran if it tries or succeeds in killing it.
It came a day after the president agreed to further talks with Iran, although he repeated his assertion of a ceasefire just weeks after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding calling for peace.
While there have been no direct talks between Iran and the US since last month, Iranian media reported that a Qatari mediating delegation was in Tehran after the two sides exchanged blows.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran asked us to continue ‘negotiations’.” We agreed to do this, but the United States told them in no uncertain terms that the ceasefire was OVER!” Trump announced this on his Truth Social platform.
Earlier this week at the NATO summit, Trump also announced a ceasefire, saying of Tehran: “Dealing with them is just a waste of time.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hit back on Saturday, insisting that Tehran “has kept its word so far, unlike the so-called US Treasury Secretary, who is violating paragraph 9 of the Memorandum of Understanding.”
This refers to part of the memorandum of understanding that Iran will “maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program” and the United States “will not impose any new sanctions or deploy additional forces in the region” pending a final agreement.
“This violation follows other violations and mistakes by the United States. Reality check: there can only be mutual agreement,” Araghchi added.
The US and Iranian delegations have held one round of direct talks in Switzerland since the signing of the memorandum of understanding, as well as indirect talks in Qatar, but there has been no sign of diplomatic progress since then.
Hormuz term
The hostile words came after Axios and Politico reported that Washington had given Tehran until Saturday to stop shelling commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and acknowledge that the waterway is open.
The strait, a vital shipping route for the world’s oil, is a major source of contention between the United States and Iran.
Tehran has effectively closed the strategic waterway in response to the war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on the city in late February.
The Islamic republic insists it must control Hormuz, which includes the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, and has expressed a desire to charge ships passing through it.
It had no such powers before the war, and although the strait includes the territorial waters of Oman and Iran, under international law the two generally cannot block passage or impose tolls.
The United States launched major strikes on Iran this week following attacks on ships in the strait, sparking a wave of crackdowns on American bases in the Persian Gulf.
The US Treasury also ended a temporary waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil, revoking a license announced in June that allowed Tehran to produce, sell and supply crude oil and related products until August 21.
Araghchi will travel to Oman on Saturday for talks on the strait, the official IRNA news agency said.
Doha has backed continued diplomacy, with Iran’s Tasnim news agency reporting on Friday that a Qatari delegation was in Tehran to “try to strengthen Qatar’s role as a mediator following the events of Tuesday” when Doha condemned the Islamic Republic’s “unacceptable attack” on one of its LNG tankers.
Iran denied the accusations.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has also been mediating in the conflict, held a telephone conversation with Qatar’s emir on Friday to discuss the recent escalation, Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sharif also spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, calling on him to defend his “hard-earned peace,” the prime minister said on X.
However, Iran’s chief negotiator in negotiations with Washington, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, struck a defiant tone.
“Ending the war is a priority for the countries of the world, but everyone should know that this confrontation will never end with the surrender of Iran,” the ISNA news agency reported his statement.
The Iranians, he said, are “fully prepared to defend themselves.”
© 2026 AFP