Trump and Iran trade new threats as Hormuz talks test fragile truce

Dubai,UPDATED: Jul 12, 2026 01:40 IST

US President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders traded fresh threats on Saturday as an interim deal meant to end the war came under strain, even as efforts continued to keep negotiations alive. The latest exchange came after days of US airstrikes on Iran, which followed Iran's attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian retaliatory fire targeting Arab nations in the region.

Trump said the ceasefire was over but added that the US would continue talks. At the same time, Iran said it was discussing the Strait of Hormuz with Oman and possible steps to ensure safe passage for ships, while also accusing Washington of breaching the interim deal.

Trump, writing overnight on social media, threatened further missile strikes on Iran after open calls for his killing were heard during the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Later, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Iranians would continue to avenge his father's death. Such revenge "is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out", he said in remarks carried by state television. Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the war began on February 28 with strikes that killed his father.

Trump said he was responding to threats "to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate" him. During Khamenei's funeral, mourners held posters and banners calling for Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be killed. Iran buried Khamenei, 86, this week. In his post, Trump wrote that a thousand "missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat". He added that the US military would "completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran - PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!"

Iran has said the strait must remain under its control and that it should be allowed to charge ships passing through it, a position it adopted after the war began. Senior US officials have demanded that Iran publicly state that the Strait of Hormuz is open and that ships will not be attacked. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that he had met his Omani counterpart to discuss the waterway and "appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships". Oman said it and Iran agreed to continue talks "at the technical and political levels".

Araghchi also accused the US of violating the interim deal by ending waivers that had allowed Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in US dollars. Washington ended the waivers in response to the attacks on ships in the strait. "Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance," Araghchi wrote on X.

For decades, the world has regarded the strait as an international waterway. The US is now urging mariners to use a southern route through Oman's territorial waters. Iran, however, has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran. Before the war, about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait. Iran's control of the waterway during the war triggered a global energy crisis, though oil prices have since fallen sharply from wartime highs of USD 120 a barrel. Iran's envoy to the United Nations said on Friday that any activity in the strait, including opening it or carrying out demining operations, "rests exclusively with Iran".

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners tried to sabotage the ceasefire. Iran, however, has maintained that its theocracy is united under the new supreme leader. After the US completed its latest strikes on Thursday, more attacks were reported inside Iran, raising questions about who else may be targeting the country. Israel did not claim those strikes, leading to suggestions that Gulf Arab states may have carried them out to deter further Iranian attacks after Iran on Thursday targeted Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar in response to US strikes.

The strikes in Iran over two days killed at least 17 people and wounded 115 others, according to Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour. Even as Oman and Iran kept channels open over the strait, the sharp exchange between Trump and Iranian leaders underlined how fragile the interim deal remains.

With PTI Inputs

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