Iranupdated 1h ago2 min read
Archive photo · 2 June 2025Trump Says He Reached An Agreement With Iran, Orders Action To Finish Them Off
“a return to war in the coming weeks seems likely.”
“But Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei said the discussions in the capital were ‘very good,”
Photo: Daniel Torok / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Trump claimed deal reached and ordered action to 'finish them off'. Iran says indirect talks continue and won't budge even if strikes resume.
Trump, Tehran, and timing
Donald Trump said Sunday that he was reaching an agreement with Iran and taking action to "finish them off," while Iranian officials said indirect negotiations with the U.S. continue and Tehran will not change its positions even if Trump orders a resumption of American attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to convince Trump to launch a joint strike, or at least give his blessing for an Israeli operation, and US officials told Channel 12 news that Netanyahu wanted to launch an attack before the elections.
“President Trump said Sunday he was reaching an agreement with Iran and taking action to ‘finish them off.’”
A security source told Channel 12 that the operation could lead to a swift confrontation with Iran shortly before the election, warning that it could create "this [potential] miscalculation." Raz Zimmt, an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, said the Iranians estimate with a high probability that Trump intends to renew the attacks after midterms, and he described the gap between the United States and Iran as "a matter of time until the war is renewed."
Regional diplomacy and threats
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan held talks with Iran on Monday in an attempt to stop the Middle East war from reigniting, and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said the delegations flew to Iran to "de-escalate between the parties to the current crisis." Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met the delegations, and the meeting ended without concrete announcements as the parties said they "agreed to continue discussions" according to Iranian state media.
Trump told reporters on Sunday, "There will not be a strike today," while it also quoted Trump saying, "Unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job." Mahmoud Vaezi, head of Hassan Rouhani’s office in the 12th government, told the News Online Agency that "the issue of war with Iran is directly related to people’s livelihoods" and that with 10 days left until the congressional elections, starting a war could incur political costs for Trump and the Republicans.
Oil, elections, and escalation
Brent crude oil sat around $115 a barrel early Monday after surging last week over supply concerns, as the Middle East and crises grind on and the Northern Hemisphere heads into winter, when demand for gas rises.
“You want to see problems? You want to see not only energy problems, but death problems? Let them have a nuclear weapon — because they would use it.”
Trump warned a nuclear-armed Iran would create “energy problems” and “death problems,” quoting Trump as saying, “You want to see problems? You want to see not only energy problems, but death problems? Let them have a nuclear weapon — because they would use it.”
Trump ordered the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its carrier strike group to the Middle East along with around 10,000 Marines in the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, and they are slated to arrive by the end of November, bringing the number of US aircraft carriers near Iran’s shores to three.
The US director of national intelligence warned that Iran was in the "advanced stages" of planning attacks against American officials abroad, prompting personnel evacuations and heightening the risk of a return to all-out war.