Highlights:
- Trump rejects extending the Iran interim deal.
- He demands Iran effectively surrender.
- Trump threatens military action against Oman.
- Iran warns it could shift to a “fully offensive” posture.
- Hormuz disruption is pushing oil and fuel prices higher.
The already explosive US-Iran war has taken another jaw-dropping turn, with president Donald Trump declaring that Tehran will not deliver the kind of agreement he wants and warning that Iran should surrender, while separately threatening to bomb Oman if it interferes with efforts surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.
"They're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday (18).
“NO” TO EXTENDING THE DEAL — TRUMP DRAWS A HARD LINE
Asked whether Washington wanted to extend an interim agreement with Tehran, Trump answered simply: "no."
The June memorandum was supposed to provide a path out of the war, calling for an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts" and negotiations toward a broader agreement. Instead, the arrangement collapsed. Trump declared it "over" on July 7, while Iran later said it was "suspended."
The 60-day negotiating window expired Monday with no final settlement, leaving diplomacy in limbo and raising fresh fears that the conflict could widen rather than wind down.
Hours earlier, Trump had delivered an even harder message to Iran through Fox News.
Iran "should put up the white flag of surrender."
The blunt demand suggests Washington is no longer simply pushing Tehran toward another temporary arrangement. Trump appears to be demanding a far broader capitulation, particularly over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
“WE'LL BOMB THE SHIT OUT OF THEM” — OMAN CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
Then Oman was dragged directly into the crisis.
Oman has been working with Iran on arrangements aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important energy corridors. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments passed through the waterway.
Shipping has now collapsed, intensifying pressure on energy markets and raising fears about supplies reaching international buyers.
"If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them," Trump told Fox.
The extraordinary threat puts Oman, traditionally viewed as an important diplomatic intermediary between Washington and Tehran, in an increasingly dangerous position.
Later, when reporters pressed Trump in the Oval Office about whether he had lost patience with Oman, he said: "No, I don't think they behaved very well, but we'd handle them very easily, just like we do other things."
The comments have added another explosive layer to a conflict already threatening to disrupt one of the world's most critical energy chokepoints.
“FULLY OFFENSIVE” — IRAN WARNS OF A NEW ESCALATION
Iran is also warning that the conflict could enter an even more dangerous phase.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran is shifting from a defensive posture to a "fully offensive" one and could launch attacks to break the U.S. naval blockade if diplomacy fails.
That warning comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains at the center of the confrontation. Any sustained disruption could have consequences far beyond the battlefield, threatening energy supplies, increasing transportation costs and pushing already volatile fuel prices even higher.
Oil prices surged again Tuesday (18), with Brent crude approaching $91 a barrel as traders increasingly feared that the crisis could drag on.
Trump insists the November midterm elections are not influencing his Iran strategy.
"Midterms have nothing to do with my thinking," he said.
But with fuel prices climbing, shipping strangled, Iran threatening a more aggressive military posture and Washington ruling out an extension of the interim deal, the diplomatic escape route looks frighteningly narrow.
The question now hanging over the region is brutally simple: If neither side backs down, how much bigger does this war get — and who gets dragged into it next?
