Trump threatens Iran strikes, eyes oil seizure as diplomacy talks intensify

President Trump sat aboard Air Force One on Sunday and described the state of U.S.-Iran negotiations in terms that mixed optimism with menace. Washington was talking to Tehran, he said, both directly and indirectly. "We're doing extremely well in that negotiation," he told reporters, "but you never know with Iran. We negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up."

Days earlier, in an interview with the Financial Times, Trump had laid out a more specific threat. He said he was considering seizing Iran's oil—specifically by taking control of Kharg Island, the chokepoint through which roughly 90 percent of Iran's crude exports flow. "Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't," he said. "We have a lot of options." He also claimed the U.S. military had identified approximately 3,000 potential targets inside Iran. Yet even as he spoke of military options, he suggested a settlement was possible. "A deal could be made fairly quickly," he added.

On Monday, Trump's tone hardened. In a post on Truth Social, he warned that if an agreement was not reached soon, the United States would "blow up and completely obliterate all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island." He framed the threatened destruction as retaliation for Americans killed by Iran, describing the Iranian government's 47-year history as a "reign of terror." The language was unambiguous: either negotiate quickly, or face total destruction of critical infrastructure.

Iran's response was to deny the premise of Trump's claims. Esmail Baghaei, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, acknowledged that Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration but rejected the assertion that direct negotiations were underway. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker, adopted a defiant posture, saying Iranian forces were "waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire." He also suggested the talks were a pretext for the deployment of 2,500 U.S. Marines to the region.

While the two sides traded accusations, Pakistan stepped into the space between them. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced that Pakistan would host talks between the United States and Iran in the coming days, saying the country would be "honored to facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides." The statement came after Dar met with regional diplomats in Islamabad, signaling that at least one regional power saw an opening for mediation.

In Europe, however, the conflict was narrowing the space for American military operations. Spain announced it had closed its airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the war with Iran. Defense Minister Margarita Robles made clear that American forces would not be permitted to use Spanish military bases or airspace for operations related to the conflict. "This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning," she said. "Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran." The Rota and Morón bases, which have hosted U.S. forces since the 1950s under bilateral defense agreements, remain under Spanish sovereign control. The Spanish government under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been Europe's most vocal critic of American and Israeli military actions in the Middle East, and this decision reflected that stance.

The convergence of these developments—Trump's escalating threats, Iran's defiance, Pakistan's offer to mediate, and Spain's restrictions on American military access—created a moment of acute tension. Diplomacy and military pressure were running in parallel tracks, each one dependent on the other's trajectory. How quickly a deal could be made, and whether Pakistan could broker one, would determine whether the threatened strikes on Iran's infrastructure ever materialized.