Trump demands Iran publicly pledge to keep Strait of Hormuz open

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President Donald Trump is willing to continue negotiating with Iran even after he declared the ceasefire over – but the talks are predicated on Tehran issuing a public statement that it won’t threaten ships in the Strait of Hormuz, senior U.S. officials said Friday.

The Trump administration is “demanding” a statement from Iran vowing to keep the key shipping lane open with no tolls and a promise to stop attacking commercial ships, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

The U.S. is giving Iran a quick deadline to state the Strait of Hormuz is open, a second official said. The administration is “expecting” Iran to take that position in a meeting with Omani officials on Saturday, the second official said, adding, “if it’s not their position, then it’s not going to be a great day for them.”

The U.S. also wants the statement to have a part “explicitly or at least implicitly acknowledging that they screwed up,” the first official added, noting that Iranian officials made that clear to them privately.

The first official also noted that Iran will have to give over “nuclear dust” in any final deal with the U.S.

“Simply, if they don’t give us the dust, we don’t have a deal. However, we have a lot of options. We have a lot of options if they resist giving the dust. There are continued military, diplomatic, economic leverage points,” the first official said.

The administration official conceded that a long-term deal may not come to fruition.

A third senior official described the current dynamic as a “wait-and-see moment” and said Iran wanted to wait until the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was held Thursday, to “conclude some of the big items.”

“It’s binary: we either make a deal or we don’t, and we’ll see how it all plays out,” the second senior official said.

Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran, which began in mid-June, was over during the NATO summit in Turkey this week after Tehran struck commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday, Trump said negotiations would continue, but that the ceasefire was still “over.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” he wrote on Truth Social.