Photo: Alamy
A 14-day ceasefire between the United States and Israel is set to expire this week, and with the deadline looming close on the horizon, the question of the hour is whether Iran will accept a deal from U.S. negotiators.
Amid upcoming talks in Islamabad, spearheaded by Vice President J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff, this round of discussions represents a second attempt at diplomacy after weeks of increasingly violent war.
President Trump told PBS News on Monday morning that if the ceasefire expires between Tuesday and Wednesday with no deal in place, “Then the bombs start going off.”
This comment doubles down on his weekend Truth Social post, in which he threatened to bomb “every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.”
As far as what the president would like to achieve in these diplomatic talks, he told PBS it came down to nuclear weapons: “Very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple.”
As reported by RSBN, the president told the media last Friday, upon his announcement that the Strait of Hormuz was open for business, that Iran had agreed to an “unlimited” suspension of nuclear development.
His renewed threats over the weekend and on Monday to strike infrastructure in the region were sparked by continued Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz – the stickiest point in these negotiations. The key waterway was supposed to remain safe and open leading up to the diplomatic talks in Islamabad.
President Trump slammed the attacks from Iran, noting that the action was “A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!”
“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” President Trump later fumed in the same Truth Social post, pressuring Iran to take a deal.
He continued, “They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”
Notably, President Trump told The Post on Monday afternoon that he was even willing to meet personally with leaders from Tehran to settle this conflict once and for all.
“I have no problem meeting them,” the president told the outlet. “If they want to meet, and we have some very capable people, but I have no problem meeting them.”
As far as potentially extending the ceasefire this week, President Trump has remained intentionally vague with the press. He told reporters aboard Air Force One this weekend, “Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade is going to remain…and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again.”
