Iran reviews U.S. response as Trump says he awaits the ‘right’ answer

Iran signaled on Thursday that it is weighing Washington’s latest position on ending the war, after President Donald Trump said he was willing to wait only a few days for what he called the “right answers” from Tehran and warned that fresh attacks could follow if no deal is reached.

“We have received US views and are reviewing them,” Iranian state-run agency Nour News quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.

Baghaei added that Pakistan, which hosted peace talks last month and has served as the channel for messages between the two sides, remains involved in mediation between Iran and the US, with several rounds of communication already completed.

Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Trump said the crisis was “right on the borderline” and could spiral rapidly.

Six weeks after he halted Operation Epic Fury under a ceasefire, efforts to end the war have made scant headway, while surging gasoline prices have dragged on the president’s approval ratings.

“Believe me, if we don’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We’re all ready to go,” he said at Joint Base Andrews.

Asked how long he would wait, Mr Trump said: “It could be a few days, but it could go very quickly.”

Iran responded with a warning against any renewed military action.

“If aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will extend beyond the region this time,” the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.

Trump says he is willing to wait a few days to get ‘right answer’ from Iran

Mr Trump also restated his resolve to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“We’re in the final stages of Iran. We’ll see what happens. Either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty, but hopefully that won’t happen,” Mr Trump told reporters yesterday.

“Ideally I’d like to see few people killed, as opposed to a lot. We can do it either way,” he added.

He also spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, who welcomed the extension of the ceasefire and told Mr Trump he believed a “reasonable solution” remained within reach.

Iran’s top peace negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in an ‌audio message on social media that “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy” ⁠showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was still open to talks, but wrote in a post on X: “Forcing Iran to surrender through coercion is nothing but an illusion.”

Mr Baghaei said Iran was pursuing negotiations “with seriousness and good faith, but it has strong and reasonable suspicion over America’s performance”.

Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz

Iran submitted a fresh offer to the US this week.

By Iran’s own account, the proposal largely restates terms Mr Trump has previously rejected, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, the lifting ‌of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and the withdrawal of US troops.

Mr Trump said on Tuesday he had been just an hour away from ordering attacks this week after receiving requests from several of Iran’s Gulf neighbours.

Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz to all ships apart from its own since the US-Israeli attacks began on 28 February, causing ⁠the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history.

The US answered last month with its own blockade of Iran’s ports.

Iran released a map showing a “controlled maritime zone” at the Strait of Hormuz yesterday and said transit would require authorisation from the newly ‌created authority.

It says it intends to reopen the waterway to friendly countries that accept its terms.

That could potentially include fees for access, which Washington says ⁠would be unacceptable.

Two Chinese tankers ‌laden with a total of around four million barrels of oil exited the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.

Iran had announced last week, while Mr Trump was in Beijing for a summit, that it had agreed to relax rules for Chinese ships.

South Korea’s foreign minister said a Korean tanker was crossing the waterway in cooperation with Iran.

Shipping monitor Lloyd’s List said at least 54 ships had transited the strait last week, roughly double the number from the week before.

Iran said 26 ships had crossed in the past 24 hours, still only a fraction of the 140 per day before the war.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Strait of Hormuz ‘will open’

Mr Trump is facing mounting pressure to bring the war to an end, with soaring energy prices weighing on his Republican Party ahead of congressional elections in November.

“Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the US stance ⁠shifting daily,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that he saw elevated yields and headline inflation as “transient” and said they would ease once the conflict ends.

“The strait will open, and we’ll normalise energy prices,” he said.

The US-Israeli bombing killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended under a ceasefire in early April.

Israel has also killed thousands more and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes in Lebanon, which it invaded while pursuing the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

Iranian strikes on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states have killed dozens of people.

When they launched the war, Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said their goals were to curb Iran’s support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear programme, destroy its missile capabilities and make it easier for Iranians to topple their rulers.

But Iran has so far retained its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and its ability to threaten neighbours with missiles, drones and proxy militias. ‌

Its clerical rulers, who put down a mass uprising at the start of the year, have faced no sign of organised opposition since the war began.