Trump says U.S. likely to resume bombing Iran as ceasefire ends

Joseph Gedeon in WashingtonTuesday April 21, 2026

Representatives from more than a dozen foreign diplomatic missions, United Nations offices, and the media view damage at sites previously targeted by US-Israeli strikes, on 20 April 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Donald Trump signaled on Tuesday that he expects the US to resume bombing Iran, even as a delicate 14-day ceasefire heads toward its Wednesday deadline with no agreement in place.

“I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “We’re ready to go. The military is raring to go.”

When asked if he would extend the ceasefire, he replied: “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.”

He said the United States was negotiating from a position of strength and would eventually land what he described as a great deal, though the timing and price of that outcome remained uncertain.

The comments were paired with a Truth Social post in which Trump accused Tehran of having “Violated the Cease Fire numerous times!” The accusation appeared to bolster the case for renewed strikes.

Even so, Trump left the door open to another diplomatic push, with JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, due in Islamabad on Tuesday for a second round of talks.

The back-and-forth between threats of war and hints of diplomacy has become a defining feature of Trump’s handling of the conflict. On Monday, he said a deal could still be within reach, but also warned that “lots of bombs” would “start going off” if negotiations collapsed. Earlier this month, he went further, threatening the extinction of “a whole civilization” in Iran and claiming its civilians were welcoming US attacks on the country’s infrastructure.

Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon secretary, said last week that the US was “locked and loaded” to complete the destruction of Iran’s energy grid.

After the CNBC interview, Trump directed his criticism closer to home, using another Truth Social post to tell Americans not to allow “traitor Democrats” to attack last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer. He said the operation had “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites and claimed Space Force cameras were monitoring all three locations around the clock.

Iran, for its part, showed no sign of backing down. Ghalibaf wrote on X early Tuesday that “we do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats”, accusing Washington of pushing for surrender rather than a real settlement. Iran’s military commander also warned that any renewed fighting would bring an “immediate and decisive response”.

The confrontation has rattled global energy markets. Fatih Birol, who heads the International Energy Agency, called it “the biggest crisis in history”, warning that the combination of fallout from the conflict’s effect on oil and the continuing Russian gas crisis is unprecedented.