Trump Says Iran Talks 'On Borderline', Willing To Wait For A Few Days To Get 'Right Answer'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that talks with Iran were balanced on a knife's edge, telling reporters the situation was "right on the borderline" between a negotiated peace deal and a fresh wave of US military strikes, even as he signalled Washington was prepared to wait a few more days for Tehran to respond.

Trump's Warning: 'We're All Ready to Go'

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, Trump delivered some of his starkest language yet on the state of negotiations with Iran, leaving little ambiguity about what a breakdown in talks would mean.

"It's right on the borderline, believe me," Trump said. "If we don't get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We're all ready to go. We have to get the right answers. It would have to be a complete 100 percent good answers."

Asked how long he was prepared to wait, Trump suggested the window was narrow but not yet closed. "It could be a few days, but it could go very quickly."

He added that a deal would save "a lot of time, energy and lives" and could be reached "very quickly, or in a few days," though he offered no specifics on what an acceptable agreement would look like.

Earlier in the day, Trump had struck a similarly blunt tone. "We're in the final stages of Iran. We'll see what happens. Either have a deal or we're going to do some things that are a little bit nasty, but hopefully that won't happen. Ideally I'd like to see few people killed, as opposed to a lot. We can do it either way," he told reporters.

How Close Did the US Come to Striking Iran This Week?

Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he had been an hour away from ordering a resumption of strikes against Iran, a decision he said he postponed at the request of several Gulf states. The planned attack had been scheduled for Tuesday before it was called off.

This is the second time Trump has pulled back from military escalation in recent weeks. Six weeks ago, he paused Operation Epic Fury, the US-Israeli bombing campaign that began on 28 February, in exchange for a ceasefire. Since then, peace talks have made little tangible progress, while soaring petrol prices have weighed on the president's approval ratings and placed growing political pressure on the White House to bring the conflict to a close.

Iran Responds: 'The Promised Regional War Will Extend Beyond the Region'

Tehran has not softened its public posture in response to Trump's warnings. Iran's Revolutionary Guards issued a pointed statement warning against any renewed military action. "If aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will extend beyond the region this time," the Guards said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a more measured tone, saying Tehran remained open to negotiations but drawing a firm line on the question of coercion. "Forcing Iran to surrender through coercion is nothing but an illusion," Pezeshkian wrote in a post on X.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran was pursuing negotiations "with seriousness and good faith, but it has strong and reasonable suspicion over America's performance."

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's top peace negotiator, said in an audio message on social media that "obvious and hidden moves by the enemy" showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.

Iran's Latest Peace Offer: What Tehran Is Demanding

Iran submitted a new offer to the US this week. According to Tehran's own descriptions, the proposal largely repeats terms previously rejected by Trump, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and the withdrawal of US troops from the region.

Pakistan, which hosted the only formal round of peace talks held so far, has been serving as the primary conduit for messages between Washington and Tehran. On Wednesday, Pakistan's interior minister was in Tehran as part of the latest diplomatic push, with the two sides continuing to exchange messages through Pakistani mediation.

Trump reiterated his core demand that Iran would not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon. Six weeks of bombing have, however, left Iran's stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium intact, along with its capacity to threaten neighbours through missiles, drones and proxy militias.

The Strait of Hormuz: Global Energy Supplies at Stake

At the heart of the conflict's economic consequences lies the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of the world's oil supply ordinarily passes. Iran has largely closed the strait to all vessels except its own since the US-Israeli attacks began in February, causing what analysts have described as the most severe disruption to global energy supplies in history. The US responded last month by imposing its own blockade of Iranian ports.

On Wednesday, Iran released a map outlining a "controlled maritime zone" at the strait, stating that transit would require authorisation from a newly created authority. Tehran indicated it aimed to reopen the strait to countries it considers friendly, with terms that could potentially include access fees. Washington has said such fees would be unacceptable.

Two large Chinese oil tankers carrying a combined cargo of approximately four million barrels exited the strait on Wednesday. Iran had announced last week, while Trump was in Beijing for a summit with President Xi Jinping, that it had agreed to ease transit rules for Chinese vessels. South Korea's foreign minister confirmed separately that a South Korean tanker was also crossing the strait in coordination with Iran.

Shipping monitor Lloyd's List reported that at least 54 vessels transited the strait last week, roughly double the figure from the previous week. Iran said 26 ships had crossed in the 24 hours to Wednesday, still a fraction of the 140 daily crossings recorded before the war began.

Economic Pressure Mounts on Trump to End the Conflict

The war's economic consequences are beginning to create domestic political problems for the Trump administration. Elevated energy prices have weighed on Republican support ahead of congressional elections in November, and senior administration officials have been vocal about the need to bring the conflict to a close.

"Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the US stance shifting daily," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that he viewed elevated bond yields and headline inflation as "transient" and expected them to subside once the conflict ended. "The strait will open, and we'll normalise energy prices," Bessent said.

The Human Cost of the Conflict

The US-Israeli bombing campaign killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended under the April ceasefire. Israel's military operations have also killed thousands in Lebanon, where Israeli forces invaded in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians. Iranian strikes on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states have killed dozens of people.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at the outset of the war that their objectives were to curb Iran's support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear programme, destroy its missile capabilities, and create conditions for Iranians to remove their clerical rulers. Six weeks into the ceasefire, none of those goals has been fully achieved, and Iran's leadership, having suppressed a mass uprising earlier in the year, faces no visible organised opposition.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke with Trump on Wednesday, welcomed the extension of the ceasefire and told the US president he believed a "reasonable solution" was possible, according to Ankara.

Whether Trump agrees will become clear within days.

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