Donald Trump has threatened to “take over” Iran if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, telling Fox News on Sunday that he warned Iranian officials directly: “You close it and you won’t have a country. … We’ll take over the rest of the country.” The profanity-laced threat, which included the president claiming he told Tehran they would not “even make it back to your f**king country,” came after Iran announced on Saturday that it was once again closing the key waterway — just days after signing an interim peace deal with the US that guaranteed safe passage.
Iran blamed the closure on Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, which have killed at least 47 people since Friday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency, and two children on Saturday. Tehran accused the US and Israel of violating the ceasefire, warning that “if aggression continues, subsequent steps have been planned.” Despite the announcement, tracking data shows vessels have continued to pass through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas travels, and US Central Command said commercial transits were ongoing.
“Trump threatens to 'take over' Iran after Tehran closes Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of ceasefire violations.”
The Israeli offensive in Lebanon — viewed by some Trump advisers as an effort to undermine the ceasefire agreement signed by the president — has drawn rare public frustration from the White House. Vice-President JD Vance, who arrived in Switzerland on Sunday for high-stakes talks with Iran, warned Israeli officials not to alienate their closest ally, remarking on a podcast that Israel could not simply “kill” their way out of every problem. Vance, joined by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, met Iranian negotiators at the Bürgenstock resort, alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir, who have acted as mediators throughout the war.
“The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together?” Vance said before departing Washington. “Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently, or do we go back to doing things the old way?” The interim deal, signed last week, included a $300bn reconstruction plan for Iran, an end to fighting on “all fronts” including Lebanon, and a 60-day deadline for a final agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme — which Iran insists is peaceful. But neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep forces in southern Lebanon until any threat is eliminated. Hezbollah, while saying it remains committed to the ceasefire, has continued to repel Israeli troops, firing more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces overnight on Saturday.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social on Sunday, demanded Iran “immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” warning he would “hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” The threat to occupy Iran as a whole marks a new escalation from a president who has been seeking a way out of the war he began in February. Former President Barack Obama has said the US appears “worse off” now than before the conflict, telling NBC: “We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars … A lot of people have died.” As Vance’s talks continue, the key question remains whether the fragile ceasefire can survive the widening confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah — and whether Tehran will keep the oil lifeline open.