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On Truth Social on Friday, Trump declared the ceasefire over but said the United States would continue negotiations.
In this photo released by the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, mourners carry the coffin of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei above the crowd for the final prayer before his burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP) AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Saturday next The funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei There have been open calls to kill the American leader, further highlighting the tensions sweeping the Middle East as a conflict. A temporary agreement to end the war Buckles are under frequent crossfire in the area.
Trump made the comments on the Truth Social website after senior US officials asked Iran to make a public statement saying… Strait of Hormuz is open and that ships crossing the vital passage will not be attacked.
So far, Tehran has not done so, instead insisting that the route remain under its control and that it be allowed to ship ships moving through it, upending decades of precedent that considers the strait an international waterway.
He was there Several days of US air strikes targeting Iranin addition to Iranian retaliatory fires targeting countries throughout the Middle East. These sparked strikes Iran attacks three ships In the strait earlier this week.
On Truth Social on Friday, Trump declared the ceasefire over but said the United States would continue negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi traveled to Oman for further talks on Saturday, a day after Qatari mediators traveled separately to Iran to meet officials amid regional strikes.
Trump makes an online threat against Iran
“There are a thousand missiles loaded and loaded targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran, and thousands more will follow immediately, if the Iranian government acts on its threat,” Trump wrote on his website.
The American President said that his threat came in response to threats to “assassinate him or attempt to assassinate him.” During Khamenei’s funeral Mourners frequently carried posters or signs He called for his killing along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
I witnessed the first moments of the Iran War on February 28 An air strike killed Khamenei86. Iran buried Khamenei only this week after a days-long funeral ceremony that saw his body transported to cities in both Iran and Iraq.
Trump added in his post that the US army “will completely destroy and destroy all areas of Iran – thank God!”
Trump has repeatedly mentioned the name of God in Arabic during the war and the uneasy ceasefire, as well as threatening to destroy Iran’s civilization itself. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nationwide advocacy group, has in the past criticized Trump’s “unhinged mockery of Islam.”
The Strait of Hormuz is a major point of contention
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, described to reporters what happened The state of play with IranHe said that the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian militants trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.
However, Iran insisted on unifying its theocratic regime after the war under the leadership of the country’s new supreme leader. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
US officials said on Friday that Trump is giving US negotiators a limited time to reach an agreement with Iran, but stressed, in a sign of the challenges ahead, that the president has a wide range of options if the talks collapse.
But moments before US officials spoke, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including operations to open it or clear mines, “lies exclusively with Iran.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Qatari mediators traveled separately to Iran to meet officials on Friday.
Iran has said the strait should now be under its sole control and that ships should start paying fees to Tehran – even though for decades the world has viewed it as an international waterway. About a fifth of all oil and natural gas trade passed through the strait before the war began.
However, Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis Oil prices fell sharply Since reaching wartime highs of $120 a barrel.
The Middle East remains tense after the attacks
After the United States ended its latest strikes on Thursday, more attacks reportedly hit Iran, raising questions about who is targeting the Islamic Republic. Israel did not demand it, meaning Gulf Arab states may have launched it, likely as a way to deter Iran from attacking it again. On Thursday, Iran responded to the US strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.
Iranian Ministry of Health spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said that the air strikes that Iran witnessed over two days resulted in the death of at least 17 people and the injury of 115 others.
Crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Araqchi is scheduled to meet his counterpart in Oman. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state radio TRT that he believes “a solution can be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which lie on either side of the narrow waterway.
However, Araqchi on Saturday accused the United States of violating the interim agreement by ending waivers that allow Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in US dollars. Washington did this in response to attacks on ships in the Strait.
“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araqchi wrote on X.
The United States continues to urge sailors to travel on a southern route through Omani territorial waters to avoid Iranian waters and the orders of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. This angered Tehran and sparked attacks in the Strait.
The United States insists that the nuclear deal will require Iran to hand over enriched uranium
US officials also told reporters that any agreement on Iran’s nuclear program would require Tehran to hand it over Its stock of highly enriched uranium. This is something that Iran has repeatedly rejected.
The officials said that if the United States does not reach an agreement with Iran to hand over its nuclear materials, it has military options to ensure that they remain buried underground forever. They did not provide details of those options.
Uranium, enriched to near weapons-grade levels, is believed to be at nuclear sites bombed by the United States in 2025. Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Islamic Republic is the only country in the world that is highly enriching uranium without a weapons program.
Officials also insisted that they would never reach a nuclear deal with Iran if it did not first stop its attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
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Price and Weissert reported from Washington.