Trump calls off latest threats to strike Iran, citing a breakthrough in
talks to end the war
[June 12, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL and AAMER MADHANI
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said
Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, claiming a
breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just hours after the
American leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing control
of Iran's oil industry.
Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties
have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A
spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on
state television that mediators were active and nothing had been
finalized to end the conflict that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and
Israel jointly attacked Iran.
Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: “We just
made a great settlement of the war with Iran.” He offered scant details,
other than to say he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire
that started in April to be finalized “over the next few days.”
Extending the terms of the ceasefire gives U.S. leaders more time to
negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, the main reason Trump and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war.
Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israel is not a party to the
emerging agreement between the U.S. and Iran.
The announcement came after two days of back-and-forth attacks between
the U.S. and Iran had pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of
a full-scale war.
Trump had threatened further escalation earlier Thursday, posting on
social media that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take
“total control” of its oil and gas industries. A few hours later, Trump
posted on social media that significant points in the negotiations “have
been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”
Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in
his phone call on state television that the text of a deal is “mostly
finalized.”
"The problem is that the contradictions in America’s position have
caused turbulence to this process,” he said Thursday night.
A major sticking point in negotiations has been Iran's nuclear program,
which the U.S. and Israel fear could lead to an atomic weapon, but which
Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Another key issue is Iran’s
stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for
transporting oil and natural gas.
Trump again moves quickly from threats to negotiating
Trump's rapid shift Thursday from dire threats to promoting peace
negotiations again underscored his whipsaw approach to the war. He
suggested on Monday that a deal to end the conflict could be reached in
a matter of days.
Then back-and-forth strikes rattled the Middle East this week. The first
involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of
fire between the U.S. and Iran, which targeted countries where U.S.
troops are based. The U.S. strikes began after Trump blamed Iran for
downing an American attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Both
pilots were rescued safely.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered
the ceasefire ... meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.
After Trump threatened more attacks were to come on Thursday, Iran’s
parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, responded on social
media that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions” would wreak havoc
on energy markets and “create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck
in for years.”
It wasn't the first time Trump threatened escalation before giving
negotiations another chance. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole
civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if it
didn’t agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.
Trump threatened to seize Iran's main oil terminal
Iran’s monthslong disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz
has crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food
and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
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A man runs past burning cars following an Israeli airstrike in the
southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP
Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Trump had threatened Thursday to seize Kharg Island, the heart of
Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass.
But Trump himself soon voiced doubts about taking over the oil
terminal, saying in an interview with Fox News: “I don’t know that
America has the stomach for it, to be honest.”
“I don’t want to have boots on the ground," Trump said. "But if I
wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the
place.”
Tensions persist over Iran's nuclear program, Strait of Hormuz
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post
that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to
offset the costs of damage to American allies and any tolls Iran
imposes for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at
odds over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts
are peaceful. The U.S. and Israel fear Tehran's stockpile of highly
enriched uranium could be used to build an atomic weapon.
Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end
fighting in Lebanon between its ally militia Hezbollah and Israel.
But Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the
militant group.
Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate
A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing
“chaos” amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises
at home.
The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are
struggling to afford groceries in the face of mass job losses and
triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity
out of security fears.
“Everything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people,”
the student added.
The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when
he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says
his chief concern is that Iran “maintain territorial integrity and
deterrence” in the face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.
US fires on another merchant ship to enforce blockade
The U.S. military's Central Command said Thursday that it struck a
Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American
blockade on Iranian ports. It said the M/T Jalveer was transporting
Iranian oil when it was disabled late Wednesday after its crew
failed to obey U.S. orders.
It's the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to
enforce the blockade.
Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the
Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India's minister overseeing
ports and shipping said Thursday on X.
U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before
firing on the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the
blockade.
The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United
Nations agency, condemned the attack.
___
Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Will
Weissert, Collin Binkley, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin
in Washington; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad,
Victoria Eastwood and Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo; Russ Bynum in
Savannah, Georgia, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City
contributed to this report.
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