US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to “completely annihilate” Iran if it attempted to assassinate him or succeeded in doing so. However, he left the door open to negotiations while maintaining that the ceasefire had ended. Tehran, meanwhile, insisted that it had fulfilled its commitments and would not surrender, as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to Oman on Saturday for talks concerning the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “There are one thousand missiles ready to launch and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, immediately followed by thousands more, if the Iranian government carries out its threat, announced in various parts of the world, to assassinate or attempt to assassinate the current President of the United States of America, which in this case is me.”
He added: “I have given the orders. The US military is ready, willing and able, for one year with the possibility of extension, to completely annihilate and destroy every part of Iran,” according to his statement.
Trump had previously told the New York Post that he had long been the leading target on Iran’s assassination list. He said Israel had not provided any new information on the matter and that Iranian threats against him were not new.
His comments followed reports claiming that Tel Aviv had supplied new intelligence concerning a possible Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
Iran did not issue an official response to the US president’s threat. However, Tehran has consistently criticised what it describes as American bullying and has maintained that it has the right to defend its national interests.
In April, Trump threatened to “completely destroy Iran’s civilisation” if an agreement was not reached, while also warning that bridges, power stations and other civilian targets could be attacked.
He later stepped back from carrying out those threats on the condition that Iran accept a ceasefire.
Trump Agrees to Renewed Negotiations
The latest US threats came as Trump also announced his approval for renewed talks with Iran after negotiations were suspended during the funeral proceedings for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
During the funeral, banners were displayed calling for Trump’s assassination.
Trump nevertheless repeated that the ceasefire in force since April had expired.
For the second time this week, Trump said the ceasefire was over. He had first made the announcement while attending a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Ankara.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “Iran asked us to continue the talks. We agreed to do so, but the United States informed them, in unmistakable terms, that the ceasefire is over.”
The previous week, Trump had announced a temporary halt to negotiations during the 60-day period set out in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.
The talks were suspended for one week because of the funeral of the Iranian leader, who was killed in a joint Israeli-American strike on the first day of the war on 28 February.
“We gave them one week for the funeral because we are kind,” Trump said.
A Deadline and New US Demands
The Associated Press reported, citing US officials, that Trump had given American negotiators a limited period to reach an agreement with Iran.
The officials added that the president had “a wide range of options” if the talks collapsed.
The New York Times also quoted US officials as saying that Iran would face unfavourable consequences if it failed to issue a statement acknowledging that shipping corridors through the Strait of Hormuz would be opened.
The officials demanded that Tehran publicly announce that it would stop firing on ships in the strait and commit to that position.
Iran Denies Agreeing to Continue the Talks
Following Trump’s announcement that he had approved the continuation of negotiations, Iranian state television reported that Tehran was not prepared to resume the talks because the United States had failed to honour the Islamabad agreement.
The two sides have exchanged accusations of violating the memorandum, which was reached the previous month and signed electronically on 18 June.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, stated that Tehran had not submitted any request to negotiate with the United States.
At the same time, the ministry said that, as part of Iran’s responsible approach, it had not rejected a request from a regional mediator to visit Tehran for discussions on the latest developments.
The ministry added that a Qatari delegation had visited Mashhad and had been informed of Iran’s positions and views.
Iran Says It Will Not Surrender
Iran’s chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, insisted that his country would not surrender in the confrontation.
Pakistan, which led mediation efforts between the two sides, called on Tehran to preserve the gains of a peace process that had been achieved with difficulty over weeks of war and negotiations.
Ghalibaf said Iran had never sought war and stressed that the Iranian people would not surrender to injustice.
He added that he had made clear to US Vice President JD Vance during the negotiations that Tehran had no trust in the United States.
Ghalibaf said everyone should understand that the conflict would not end with Iran’s surrender.
He also said his country was prepared to mount a comprehensive defence if the United States violated the agreement.
Following Trump’s announcement that the ceasefire had ended, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Tehran had “kept its word” regarding the memorandum of understanding with the United States.
Pakistan Calls for the Protection of Peace Gains
Amid fears that the war could resume, Pakistan urged Tehran to preserve the progress made through negotiations.
The appeal came during a phone call between Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Sharif wrote on X: “We discussed developments in the regional situation and stressed the importance of restraint, dialogue and diplomacy to preserve the gains of peace achieved with difficulty over recent months.”
He also renewed Islamabad’s readiness “to continue playing its role as an honest and sincere mediator for sustainable regional peace”.
Egypt and Qatar likewise called on the United States and Iran to prioritise diplomacy.
A statement issued by Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani had stressed during a phone call “the importance of containing tensions and preventing the conflict from widening”.
Araghchi Travels to Oman for Strait of Hormuz Talks
As tensions continued to rise, the Iranian foreign minister arrived in Oman for talks concerning the Strait of Hormuz, according to state media.
Iran’s official news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying the visit would “focus on the Strait of Hormuz and the safety of navigation”.
He described the visit as “a continuation of the consultations we began with Oman over the past two months”.
The Associated Press also quoted Iran’s diplomat at the United Nations as saying that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including reopening it or carrying out mine-clearing operations, was exclusively Iran’s responsibility.
The future of the strait remains a major point of contention in any final agreement with the United States.
Iran maintains that navigation through the waterway will not return to its previous arrangement and must instead be placed under Iranian supervision.
This could include the imposition of service charges on vessels passing through the strait, a proposal rejected by several countries, led by the United States.
Although a ceasefire agreement was reached in April and a memorandum of understanding to end the war was signed in June, the region continued to witness intermittent attacks.
Most of those incidents were linked to disputes over the Strait of Hormuz.
