US President Donald Trump on Monday, July 6, warned Iran that Washington would either secure a deal with Tehran or “finish the job”, renewing his threat of military action while insisting he still preferred diplomacy over conflict.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the United States remained open to an agreement but warned it could swiftly cripple Iran’s infrastructure if negotiations failed.
“We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job. And it won’t be tough to finish the job. I’d rather make a deal because I don’t want to affect 91 million people,” Trump said.
He added that the US could “knock down their bridges in one hour” and disrupt Iran’s energy supply, reiterating that Washington’s objective was to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Trump’s remarks came days after indirect US-Iran talks ended without any public indication of progress towards a lasting agreement.
Iran rejects Trump’s warning
Iran swiftly rejected Trump’s latest remarks, with Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi saying Tehran would not negotiate under threats.
In a post on X, Araghchi said millions of Iranians had united to honour the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and would not be intimidated by military pressure.
“Millions of proud Iranians rallied in unity to honor Grand Ayatollah Khamenei and his legacy. Neither them nor our Brave Armed Forces are moved by any threats,” he wrote.
Referring to the memorandum of understanding governing the negotiations, Araghchi added: “Paragraph 13 of the MoU is clear: Negotiations on final Deal will not commence if threats continue. Honor your signature.”
Trump questions public grief over Khamenei
Trump’s latest comments came after an interview with Axios on Saturday, July 4, in which he said he was surprised by the scale of public mourning following Khamenei’s death. He said he had expected many Iranians to dislike the late leader and suggested the scenes of grief could be “fake”.
The US president also claimed Iran’s remaining leadership could have been eliminated during the funeral ceremonies but said Washington deliberately refrained from doing so because it wanted to preserve the possibility of negotiations.
“They are all there. One shot and we can take them all out, but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with… They are begging to make a deal,” Trump told Axios.
He further claimed that both Washington and Tehran had effectively paused military action for a week while the funeral ceremonies took place, asserting that Iran was seeking to resume negotiations. However, there has been no official confirmation from Tehran of any such understanding.
Iran’s embassy rebukes Trump
Separately, Iran’s embassy in Armenia condemned Trump’s remarks in a post on X, saying the United States could not understand the public mourning for Khamenei.
“People can be killed, but ideals cannot. You killed Ayatollah Khamenei, but in reality, you broke a perfume bottle whose scent spread everyplace. You don’t understand these things because you have neither civilisation, nor history, nor honour,” the embassy said.
