Donald Trump Threatens Much Higher U.S. Bombing If Iran Rejects Peace Plan

President Donald Trump threatened that if Iran did not agree to his latest peace plan, U.S. bombing would resume “at a much higher level,” after he paused the military operation to clear a path for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

The New York Times described “conflicting and rapidly changing assessments” from Tehran and Washington as peace talks continued, with President Trump saying the United States had “won” the war in Iran while Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran was reviewing an American plan to end the war.

Ain Libya

The BBC reported that Trump’s pause on the short-lived “Project Freedom” soothed oil markets and raised hopes for a “Complete and Final Agreement,” but expectations were tempered when Trump said a deal was a “big assumption.”

In the same window, Iran said it was reviewing the proposal and would convey its views to the Pakistani side, while Trump insisted “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts.”

As Trump framed the negotiations as progressing, the BBC reported that a source close to mediators in Pakistan told Reuters, “We will close this very soon.

We are getting close.”

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Hours after Trump posted that he was suspending Project Freedom to see whether “the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” the BBC said he changed tone and warned bombing would resume “at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”

Iran’s response also carried conditions, with the BBC quoting Iranian parliamentarian Ebrahim Rezaei on X that the 14 points reported by Axios amounted to a US “wish list,” and that Iran “has its finger on the trigger and is ready” if the Americans did not “grant the necessary concessions.”

In parallel, the Washington Post reported that Washington and Tehran still disagreed on what had been agreed, even as talks continued and proposals were exchanged.

The stakes in the sources center on whether the war can be ended while the Strait of Hormuz remains open enough for shipping, and whether the parties can align on technical and political terms.

The BBC said Trump’s pause came less than 24 hours after Marco Rubio told the White House that Operation Epic Fury was over, and it also reported that foreign policy experts cautioned that negotiations had previously collapsed “at the last minute.”

The New York Times added that Trump tasked some 50,000 troops to the war against Iran, while the U.S. military remained on standby in the region as the White House gave contradictory signals about the status of the war effort.

In the same reporting stream, the BBC said it was “unlikely” Trump would send U.S. envoys for a second round of Iran peace talks in Islamabad, even as the plan reportedly aimed to bring hostilities to a close before discussions to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, lift sanctions, and curb Iranian’s nuclear ambitions.