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20-05-2026
WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran on Saturday over the stalled negotiations on its nuclear program, saying Tehran would face severe consequences if it refused to reach an agreement, even as diplomatic efforts remained mired in mutual accusations and failed proposals.
In a telephone interview with French broadcaster BFMTV, Trump expressed uncertainty about whether a deal was imminent.
“I have no idea. If they don’t, they’re going to have a very bad time,” Trump told the network, before adding that Tehran had “an interest in reaching an agreement.”
The remarks came amid reports that Trump was weighing in the coming hours whether to authorize a resumption of military strikes against Iran, following a series of negotiating rounds that have so far produced no lasting resolution.
Regional tensions have remained acute since the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, a campaign that triggered retaliatory attacks by Tehran against Israel and US allies in Gulf States and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a significant share of global oil supplies flows.
A ceasefire brokered through Pakistani mediation took effect on April 8, but subsequent talks in Islamabad collapsed without a durable accord. Trump later extended the truce indefinitely while maintaining a naval blockade on vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports through the strait.
The diplomatic standoff has been shaped by sharply divergent sequencing demands. Washington has insisted on resolving the nuclear file before hostilities formally end, while Tehran has demanded an end to the fighting and the lifting of the blockade before it will discuss its nuclear program in earnest.
Trump has said he rejected Iran’s most recent peace proposal outright after finding its opening terms “unacceptable,” claiming he discarded it upon reading the first sentence.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added to the mounting acrimony this week, accusing the Trump administration of sending contradictory signals. “We are in doubt about their seriousness,” Araghchi said, adding that mixed messaging from Washington had made Tehran “reluctant about the real intentions of Americans.”
Iran will reopen its stock market on Tuesday after a suspension during the US-Israeli war on the country, Iran’s IRNA news agency cites a senior official as saying, media reports.
“The suspension of stock market activities from the start of the war was aimed at protecting shareholders’ assets, preventing panic-driven trading and allowing for more transparent pricing conditions,” says Hamid Yari, deputy supervisor at the Securities and Exchange Organization.
“Now, with the reopening of the stock market, we will see the full resumption of all capital market sectors,” he adds.
Iran says it will soon reveal its plan to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, including the charging of tolls.
US President Donald Trump has warned Iran it will have a “very bad time” if a peace deal is not reached soon, as Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf declared that the world “stands at the cusp of a new order”.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 60 others on Saturday.
Israel continues its deadly attacks on southern Lebanon and says it has attacked 100 sites in two days, after negotiators from the two countries agreed to extend a purported “ceasefire” for an additional 45 days. (Int’l News Desk)
