President Donald Trump renewed sweeping threats against Iran on Sunday, warning that “the whole country is going to get blown up” if Tehran does not sign a deal, as tensions intensified following the collapse of a fragile ceasefire and the continued expansion of the conflict across the region.
Trump’s remarks, relayed by Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, came as Iran again closed the Strait of Hormuz after the United States renewed a blockade of Iranian ports that Tehran says violates the terms of the agreement reached between the two countries.
“If they don’t sign the deal, then the whole country is going to get blown up,” Trump said.
Trump also reportedly said the United States was “preparing to hit [Iran] harder than any country has ever been hit before because you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.” In a Truth Social post Sunday morning, he escalated the threat further.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
The statement echoed a previous warning issued earlier in April that “a whole civilization will die… never to be brought back again,” which prompted condemnation from legal experts and human rights organizations concerned about the implications of targeting an entire population.
The diplomatic crisis intensified after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, following renewed US enforcement of a naval blockade that Iranian officials say violates the ceasefire framework. Iranian gunboats fired upon two Indian-flagged ships attempting to travel through the strait after the renewed closure.
Trump said Vice President JD Vance, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Islamabad for another round of negotiations. Iranian officials later rejected claims that talks were planned.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that assertions Tehran was heading to negotiations were “not true” and described the announcement as “a media game and part of the blame game to pressure Iran.”
IRNA reported that Iranian negotiators declined to return due to “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade.”
The Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reiterated that Tehran would not negotiate unless the United States lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, which Iran considers a violation of the ceasefire between the two countries.
The ceasefire has been further strained by ongoing hostilities involving Israel and Lebanon. Earlier this month, the ceasefire between the United States and Iran initially included a halt to hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. Within hours, Israel launched a series of attacks on Lebanon described as the most punishing strikes since the war began in March. Trump backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he claimed Lebanon was never part of the agreement.
Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz on Friday after Israel and Lebanon appeared to agree to a 10-day ceasefire, but Israeli forces reportedly continued attacks on Lebanese villages and fired on individuals approaching a newly imposed “yellow line.” Iranian officials have described ending attacks on Lebanon as a central condition for sustaining a broader ceasefire agreement.
Trump has demanded that Iran surrender all of its enriched uranium, which he has referred to as “nuclear dust.” Iranian officials rejected the proposal as a violation of sovereignty.
“Iran’s uranium is Iran’s asset. It is our responsibility, our energy, our sovereign right,” a spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.
An unnamed Iranian official familiar with Tehran’s internal deliberations told Drop Site News that Iranian negotiators remain open to diplomacy under certain conditions but have grown increasingly skeptical of Trump’s approach.
“Our assessment is that Trump effectively lacks both a coherent plan and the capacity to secure even a temporary agreement,” the official said. “His decision-making appears to be grounded in Israeli political and security assessments, conveyed to him on a daily basis.”
The official added that Iranian negotiators seek an agreement that would allow uranium enrichment, provide sanctions relief, and create a long-term non-aggression framework, but warned that continued public threats complicate diplomatic progress.
“The Islamabad negotiations provided President Trump with an appropriate opportunity to exit the war,” the official said. “Should [Trump] nevertheless choose to continue the conflict, Iran will, for a prolonged period, suspend diplomatic channels and will seek, within the context of the conflict, to impose significantly greater costs on United States interests.”
Political analyst Mohammed Sani told Drop Site News that both countries have used the ceasefire period to prepare for potential escalation.
“We see that the Americans have been bringing in more troops and equipment to prepare to attack, but the Iranians have also not been resting during these two weeks of ceasefire,” Sani said. “They have been preparing, repairing the underground missile cities, bringing in new air defenses, missiles, and drones. Iran is at a high standard of readiness right now.”
Sani added that future negotiations could become more difficult if hostilities continue.
“If there is another round of negotiations sometime later in the future, after another round of American attacks against Iran fail, the Iranian conditions for peace will be much tougher,” he said.
Human rights organizations and legal experts have raised concerns about threats to destroy civilian infrastructure such as power plants and bridges. International law prohibits indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure that lack a specific military objective and are essential for human survival.
A coalition of more than 200 organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International, and Oxfam America, previously warned that such attacks would constitute “a grave atrocity” and that “a threat to wipe out ‘a whole civilization’ may amount to a threat of genocide.”
Human Rights Watch said that Trump’s earlier rhetoric “could be indicative of criminal intent if Trump were ever prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.”
Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers and executive editor at Just Security, said, “Whether he means it or not, his saying it is an indelible moral stain on our country.”
Analysts have suggested that Trump’s use of threats may undermine diplomatic outcomes. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Trump’s negotiating posture risks weakening prospects for a durable agreement.
“Due to poor discipline, Trump ends up prioritizing the optics of victory over actually getting a deal,” Parsi said. “Instead of using deescalatory signals from Iran to get closer to a deal, he declares victory and seeks Iran’s humiliation, and by that, he undermines his own diplomacy.”
The conflict has coincided with reports of significant civilian casualties in Iran. Parents of children killed in the US bombing of an elementary school in Minab released a letter thanking Pope Leo XIV for speaking out against war.
“We write this letter to you with trembling hands and a heart full of pain, from amidst the ashes and ruins of the schools of the city of Minab,” the parents wrote. “We are the fathers and mothers of 168 children who, these days, instead of embracing the warm bodies of our children, press their burned bags and bloody notebooks to our chests; innocent children whose only crime was smiling in the classroom, but this crime, through the instigation and support of illogical warmongers, crashed down upon the heads of our innocent children.”
More than 100 children were killed in the February 28 strike on Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, along with teachers and parents. Preliminary findings from the Pentagon indicate that the United States was responsible for the strike, though the Trump administration has not formally admitted fault or apologized. Human rights groups have said the bombing should be investigated as a war crime.
According to Iranian authorities, more than 3,300 people in Iran have been killed in the US-Israeli war, including hundreds of children. Abbas Masjedi, head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, told PressTV that 40% of the bodies of victims were “initially unidentifiable due to the type of bombs and missiles” used by the US and Israeli militaries.
Pope Leo XIV condemned the war and Trump’s previous threats against Iranian society, calling such rhetoric “truly unacceptable.” He said he “will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems.”
In their letter, the parents of children killed in Minab thanked the pope for defending civilians and urged him to continue advocating for peace, asking him to “continue to be the voice of the voiceless children.”
“Today, the empty chairs of the classrooms in Minab are bitter testaments to this very truth; a truth brought about by the making of American bombs directed by illogical warmongers,” the parents wrote. “We thank you that amidst the tumult of war, you became the voice of righteousness and reminded everyone that lasting peace and tranquility are achieved ‘not through force and weapons, but through the path of dialogue and the genuine search for a solution for all.’”
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