Trump threatens to bomb Oman over deal with Iran to control Hormuz

US President Donald Trump on Monday warned Oman against getting involved in a deal with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the United States would "bomb the s*** out of them" if Muscat interferes with Washington's position on the strategic waterway, reported ANI. During a phone call with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, Trump discussed the situation with Iran as the 60-day memorandum of understanding, signed in June, in order to open negotiations to end the war in West Asia, expires. Trump told Fox News that "Iran should raise the white flag of surrender" in that context while adding that he has "no time schedule". "I'm not in a hurry," the US President said. Asked about parallel talks between Iran and Oman over control of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said, "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the sh** out of them." The US President further indicated that the US naval blockade was continuing to put new economic pressure on the Iranian regime despite counterstatements made publicly by Tehran. He said the Iranians were "good poker players" but were "dying" and added that the US midterm elections, scheduled to take place in November, had nothing to do with his thinking. Trump also spoke about the depletion of US weapons stockpiles currently in West Asia, saying, "What we've used so far is peanuts." He said the United States has a large number of mid-level weapons, while many of the more advanced systems had been given to Ukraine by former President Joe Biden, including air defence systems needed in the region. Trump's remarks come as Tehran and Muscat continue talks on establishing a mechanism for secure commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, as both nations had finalised a joint shipping route map for the maritime corridor after weeks of technical negotiations. The ongoing talks stem from an Iran-US MoU that tasked Tehran and Muscat with formulating a new navigation framework for the strategic waterway. Earlier in the day, Iran said talks with Oman on establishing a mechanism for secure commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz were continuing, with Tehran attributing the delay to the complexity of the issue, the involvement of multiple actors and what it described as "destructive efforts" by malicious parties. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, during his weekly press briefing, in response to a question about why the Iran-Oman talks had not yet concluded, said, "Keep in mind that insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz was imposed on us, on the region and on the entire world, and the reason for it was the illegal military action of the United States," referring to the efforts to establish arrangements for the waterway. He said the talks were aimed at creating mechanisms that would ensure "both the sovereignty of the two coastal states and the safe passage of commercial ships in this waterway." Baghaei identified three factors behind the prolonged negotiations. "One factor is the complexity of the issue," he said, adding that the second factor was "the multiplicity of actors who are trying to be influential in this process." "The third and most important factor is the destructive efforts of some malicious parties who have shown that they never care about the peace and security of the region and want the region to always be in chaos," he said. "These three factors have caused this process to take some time, but if you consider all these things, the talks between Iran and Oman are continuing seriously," Baghaei said. On the text of a possible joint statement between Iran and Oman, Baghaei said the two sides were continuing to exchange views and had demonstrated their determination to develop a mechanism addressing their respective interests and concerns. Iran rejects Trump's claim of backchannel talks Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that there is a backchannel for talks between Washington and the IRGC, reported Xinhua. In an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi called Trump's claim a "delusion," saying no dialogue is going on between the IRGC officials and the Americans. Even Iran's diplomatic apparatus is not currently negotiating with the United States owing to Washington's "breach of promises," Mohebbi added. Separately, at Monday's press conference, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denied media reports of unofficial contact between Washington and the IRGC via Iraqi Kurdistan officials and an alleged secret U.S.-Iran meeting in Erbil. The news is "media techniques and psychological operations used to sow discord among Iran's decision-making bodies," Baghaei said. Fox News reported earlier that Trump confirmed there is a backchannel for peace talks between Washington and the IRGC. Trump says Iran unwilling to agree to deal U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Tehran wants to reach an agreement with Washington but is unwilling to accept the kind of deal he considers necessary, as a 60-day negotiating period between the two sides came to an end, reported Xinhua. "They want to make a deal, but they're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary," Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump offered no details on the state of the negotiations, reiterating that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained Washington's objective. "You understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "It's very simple. They can't have a nuclear war." Trump also claimed that the United States had "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz through its naval blockade against all Iranian ports, repeatedly musing about making it a territory of the United States. "We control it (the strait) with the blockade. And I like the idea of declaring it a territory," Trump said. "We have total control over the Strait now." As for his earlier warning against Oman, which is reported to be working with Iran on a plan to open the strait and keep the waterway under the control of the two nations, Trump said: "I don't think they behaved very well, but we'd handle them very easily, just like we do others." Trump's remarks came as a 60-day ceasefire between the United States and Iran ended Monday with both sides standing firm on their positions over Iran's nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.