President Trump on Sunday issued new threats against Iran and its negotiators as US and Iranian officials were in Geneva, Switzerland, for the first round of talks under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.
Speaking to Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, President Trump claimed that he spoke with Iranian officials overnight and told them: “You close [the Strait of Hormuz] and you won’t have a country.”
The president was reacting to the news that Iran’s military announced it would re-close the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon, which killed dozens of people over the weekend despite another “ceasefire” being declared. The MoU calls for a complete end to the war, and Iranian officials have said it hinges on an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Yingst said Trump also told the officials that if the strait is closed, “you won’t even make it back to your f–cking country,” which appears to be a threat against the lives of Iran’s officials in Geneva, who include Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Separately, in a post on Truth Social, the president threatened Iran over its support for Hezbollah. “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Trump said.
The post is notable since Trump has been calling on Israel to end its attacks in Lebanon and now appears to be shifting the blame for the continued war to Hezbollah, despite the fact that Israel refuses to end its occupation of the southern part of the country.
Trump’s threats violate the MoU, which states that the two sides must “refrain from the threat or use of force against each other,” and Iran’s PressTV reported that Iran’s delegation in Geneva raised objections with the US side over his comments.
In a post on X following the talks, Ghalibaf dismissed Trump’s threats. “Don’t they think to themselves that if their threats had any effect, they wouldn’t have reached the point of desperation today? We don’t take the threats of the Americans seriously,” he said.
“They better be careful with their statements, our armed forces are ready to respond in another way. Whatever they say, we are the ones who will act,” he added.
