Trump says he does not want to pursue an Iran deal
The remark closes off one of the few negotiating tracks mediators had been pursuing since late September.
Published
The comment hardens a deal track he has repeatedly floated and withdrawn since late September. It follows a report that he privately told aides to expect resumed bombing by November. It also comes a day after he reiterated, on Tuesday, that oil keeps flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and would only fall once the war ends.
Iran has said its response to U.S. proposals will go through intermediaries, adding another step to a weeks-long cycle that has yet to produce a signed agreement. Two administration officials say Pentagon strike options being prepared are framed around the midterm election calendar rather than diplomacy, and the White House has asked the Pentagon for options on possible strikes, with their size and targets undetermined. Defense Secretary Hegseth has said theocratic regimes should never hold nuclear weapons, and that Trump shares that view.
Iran's president Pezeshkian has said the country is in "all-out war" and vowed to "resist". Iranian officials have said missile range can be raised "as the battlefield requires" and that Iran will soon block illegal routes through the Strait of Hormuz, with tanker traffic near a standstill for weeks.
Ruling out a deal removes one of the few off-ramps mediators had been pursuing after renewed Hormuz-for-blockade talks in late September, shifting the operational picture closer to a resumed-conflict timeline rather than the negotiated settlement Iran's president had claimed existed. Trump has himself tied an end to the war to lower oil prices, so ruling out a deal removes the main stated path to that outcome and leaves the existing risk premium on crude intact.