As U.S.-Iran negotiations commenced this Sunday in Switzerland, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, President Donald Trump issued an explicit military threat against Tehran, vowing to forcibly seize the Strait of Hormuz if Iran attempts to block the vital waterway.
“You close the strait and you won’t have a country,” Trump declared, according to Fox News, adding, “We may take over the Strait, if we have to. I’ll blow the s— out of them.”
In a separate post on Truth Social, he escalated further: “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!!!”
The U.S. president’s outburst came in direct response to Tehran’s earlier threat to choke off the Strait—a chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of global oil supply—if Israel continues its bombing campaign in Lebanon. Israel has said its strikes are targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
The rhetoric threatened to derail the preliminary talks just as they were getting underway.
Vice President JD Vance had struck a more conciliatory tone at the opening session, stating that Washington was prepared to improve bilateral relations if Iran fulfilled its commitments under the recently brokered 14-point framework.
During the difficult pre-deal negotiation phase, Tehran had insisted that any U.S.-Iran deal include provisions enforcing a ceasefire in Lebanon—a condition that mediators successfully incorporated into the final text.
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However, Trump’s subsequent warnings appeared to override that diplomatic groundwork.
The Iranian delegation, led by chief negotiator and Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf and including Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, formally lodged a protest over Trump’s remarks with the Qatari and Pakistani mediators.
The delegation—which also included representatives from Iran’s security, oil, and economic institutions—declined to pose for photographs with their U.S. counterparts and walked out of the session.
JUST IN: Iranian delegation was about to leave the US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland, but at the very last minute they returned to the negotiating table at Pakistan’s request.
Thank you Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for promoting peace! 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/2p0ddQD87U
— Zard si Gana (@ZardSi) June 21, 2026
Despite the setback, an Iranian official insisted the talks were merely “paused,” not terminated.
Speaker Ghalibaf struck a defiant note in response to the U.S. president: “They would do better to be careful with their statements; our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different manner. No matter what they say, we are the ones who act.”
According to unconfirmed reports, the Iranian delegation was leaving but returned to the talks at Pakistan’s request. Later, the talks continued for 80 minutes.
Muhammad Luqman is Associate Editor at Views News Now. He writes on wide-ranging issues including economy, South Asia, the Middle East, agriculture, economy and innovation. Luqman has worked some of the leading news organizations and won acclaim for his original and research-based works.
