President Donald Trump announced Monday that upcoming negotiations with Tehran represent Iran's "last chance" to avoid further U.S. military strikes, as the administration seeks to end a conflict that's closed the Strait of Hormuz and brought the region to the brink of catastrophic escalation.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said he expects talks to begin within the next day or two. The negotiations aim to reopen the critical shipping lane and address U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear program. "The first phase is the opening of the straits," Trump said. "The second phase will be the denuclearization." He acknowledged that process "will take a little while."
Military Threats and Diplomatic Pivot
The diplomatic opening follows Trump's Saturday night announcement on Truth Social that he'd agreed to pause planned attacks on Iran. "The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II," Trump wrote. He claimed Iran and other Middle Eastern countries asked the U.S. to hold off on strikes because "the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to."
That deal would include "the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat," according to Trump's post. He added that Israel joins him in the commitment and called on negotiators to "get it DONE."
Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency immediately disputed Trump's account, calling his claims "nothing but a new lie." NPR reported that Mehr described the president's assertions as "simply a new lie," citing unnamed Iranian military figures who denied requesting that the U.S. refrain from additional attacks.
Warnings Against Prolonged Conflict
Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent praised Trump's decision to call off strikes, writing that "this is a good decision." Kent argued that "it is clear that he wants out of this war, for all the obvious reasons." He warned that Iran won't "simply return the SOH [Strait of Hormuz] to how it was before the war" and cautioned that attempting to use military force to reopen the strait "without a catastrophic escalation into a bloody, years-long war" has already failed.
Kent urged Trump to "pull our troops out of the region," suggesting the president could "declare victory" by reiterating that the stated goal of preventing Iranian nuclear weapons was met, then "quietly use the carrot of sanctions relief to open the SOH once our troops are out of harm's way." He warned, "If we stay, we risk accelerating an escalation/retaliation cycle we can't control."
Administration Defends Strategy
White House spokesman Davis Ingle defended the president's approach in a statement to Fox News Digital. "What matters most to the American people is having a Commander-in-Chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump is doing," Ingle said. He added that Trump "campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon" and claimed "Americans are already safer because of his bold leadership."
Ingle emphasized that "the President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls or political pundits, but on the best interests of the American people."
While speaking to the press aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said the talks would begin "tomorrow afternoon."
Why This Matters:
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatens global oil supplies and economic stability, with roughly one-fifth of the world's petroleum passing through the narrow waterway. The standoff puts American service members stationed throughout the Middle East at risk of being caught in what experts warn could become a protracted regional war. Former counterterrorism officials are publicly cautioning that military escalation could spiral into a conflict lasting years, with devastating human and economic costs that would fall heavily on civilian populations across the region. Whether diplomacy can succeed where threatened military force has so far failed will determine not just the fate of a critical shipping lane, but whether the U.S. becomes entangled in another prolonged Middle Eastern conflict. The outcome affects energy prices, regional stability, and the safety of both American personnel and millions of civilians living in the potential war zone.