Trump claims Iran 'negotiating on fumes' as U.S. strikes continue amid fragile talks

President Trump sat down with his Cabinet on Wednesday morning with a confident assertion: Iran was running on empty in negotiations to end a war that had now stretched nearly three months. Even as he spoke, U.S. military forces were conducting what the Pentagon termed defensive operations in the Persian Gulf—shooting down four Iranian attack drones near the Strait of Hormuz and striking a ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was preparing to launch a fifth.

The timing was deliberate. Trump wanted to project strength while talks continued, and he wanted to send a message that he would not be rushed by the calendar. When asked whether the midterm elections in November might pressure him toward a quick settlement, he was dismissive. "They thought they were gonna outwait me," he said. "I don't care about the midterms." Yet the political reality was more complicated. The conflict had become unpopular with Republicans, and rising fuel prices were darkening the national mood. A deal that could be framed as a victory—one that reopened the Strait of Hormuz and demonstrated that Iran's nuclear ambitions had been constrained—would serve Trump's political interests. But the emerging agreement was already exposing him to criticism from his own party.

Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Ted Cruz of Texas had begun raising alarms. They worried the deal too closely resembled the nuclear agreement that Trump himself had abandoned during his first term. The framework under discussion would require Iran to surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium—a key Trump demand—in exchange for sanctions relief. According to regional officials and a senior Trump administration figure, the specifics of how Iran would dispose of that uranium remained unresolved. Some would likely be diluted; the rest would be transferred to a third country. But Trump said he would not be comfortable with Russia or China taking possession of it, even though those two nations had the closest ties to Tehran and might be the most acceptable to Iranian leadership. The International Atomic Energy Agency had documented that Iran possessed 972 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, a technical step away from the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.

Another fault line had opened over Lebanon. Iran had insisted that any ceasefire agreement must cover Israeli operations against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group operating in southern Lebanon. The emerging memorandum of understanding attempted to thread this needle by calling for a ceasefire between the U.S. and its allies against Iran and its proxies, while simultaneously affirming Israel's right to defend itself against imminent threats. Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters were continuing to clash along a strategic river in southern Lebanon, with Israeli troops pushing northward. Jonathan Conricus, a former Israeli military spokesperson, expressed skepticism that any deal would hold. He predicted Iran would quickly redirect sanctions relief toward rebuilding its military and strengthening proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. "We're not done fighting, because the Iranian regime isn't done," he said.

Trump had also attached a new condition to the agreement: he wanted several additional countries—Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan—to join the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic framework from his first term aimed at normalizing relations with Israel. He described this as a strong request, but the ambition appeared to exceed the political reality on the ground. Saudi Arabia, the most powerful Arab nation and the prize Trump most coveted, had made clear that establishing a guaranteed path to Palestinian statehood was a precondition for any normalization with Israel—a demand Israel firmly rejected. When Trump pushed this vision during a call with Middle Eastern leaders over the weekend, the response was telling. Barbara Leaf, a retired U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said Gulf officials who participated in the call described it as meeting "stunned silence." A person familiar with the conversation disputed that characterization, claiming some regional allies had responded positively, but the gap between Trump's optimism and the actual diplomatic landscape appeared substantial.

Trump acknowledged Wednesday that work remained to be done. "They want very much to make a deal," he said of Iran. "So far, they haven't gotten there. We're not satisfied with it, but we will be—either that or we'll have to just finish the job." The phrase carried an implicit threat: if negotiations failed, military action would resume. The U.S. had already demonstrated its willingness to strike this week, and the ceasefire that had held for weeks remained fragile. What remained unclear was whether the gap between the two sides could be bridged before political pressure, military escalation, or the sheer complexity of the regional dynamics pulled the talks apart.