US President Donald Trump threatened Oman over its role in talks involving Iran, while claiming that Washington has a direct back-channel to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In a phone interview with Fox News on Monday, Trump said the US could take military action against Oman if it interferes with the talks. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh** out of them,” Trump said when asked about the Gulf nation’s role in negotiations with Iran.
Trump’s comments came as a 60-day ceasefire was set to expire on Monday. However, he said there was still time for a peace deal and that he was not working under a fixed deadline. “I have no time schedule,” Trump told Fox News. “I’m not in a hurry,” he added.
The president also confirmed reports of a back-channel between US officials and IRGC officials. The talks bypass traditional mediators as well as Iranian political officials, Fox News reported.
Trump said Iran still had to meet his central demand before the conflict could move towards a settlement. “They should put up the white flag of surrender,” Trump said.
He also said that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. In a post on Truth Social around the time of the Fox News interview, Trump wrote that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was his “number one Goal”.
What did Trump say about the ceasefire?
The comments came at a key point in the ceasefire process, with the 60-day truce due to expire on Monday. Trump, however, said the deadline did not mean the window for diplomacy had closed.
He said Iran could still change course and agree to the US demand over its nuclear programme. Trump also confirmed that US officials had established communication with IRGC officials through a back-channel.
The channel does not rely on mediators or Iran’s political officials, Fox News reported. Trump said the direct contact was part of efforts to communicate with the Iranian side.
He described the Iranian side as capable negotiators but under severe pressure. “They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” Trump said.
Trump also rejected the idea that domestic US politics was driving his military strategy. There has been speculation that Iran could try to delay negotiations and run down the political clock before the US mid-term elections or the 2028 presidential election, Fox News reported.
Trump rejected that suggestion and said politics did not determine his decisions as commander in chief.
What does Trump want from Iran before the conflict can end?
Trump has again put Iran’s nuclear programme at the centre of his demands. In his Truth Social post, he said preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was and would remain his “number one Goal”.
“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote.
The statement came after comments from Vice President JD Vance that placed energy security alongside the nuclear issue among the administration’s objectives.
In a Fox News interview last week, Vance said the administration had two goals in the conflict. One was to ensure that Gulf countries continued to supply oil and gas to the global economy. The other was to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Vance said keeping oil and gas prices low for Americans was “goal number one”.
“That’s goal number one: Keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country. And then, obviously, goal number two is to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
Trump has now explicitly described preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon as his “number one Goal”, while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that both objectives were “equally as important to the president.”