President Trump threatened Sunday to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz and impose American tolls on the critical waterway if Iran fails to reach a final nuclear deal within 60 days, hours after Tehran announced it was closing the strait again in response to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
“We may take over the Strait, if we have to,” Trump told Fox News Sunday. “I’ll blow the [expletive] out of them.”
“If they don’t make a deal, we’ll collect tolls,” the president told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst.
The warnings came as Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner were in Switzerland conducting technical talks with Iranian officials aimed at preserving a preliminary agreement reached Wednesday.
That memorandum of understanding reopened the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which roughly a quarter of the world’s oil supply travels, and established a 60-day window for the U.S. and Iran to finalize terms of a nuclear agreement. It also immediately lifted American sanctions on Iranian crude oil and related products.
The deal came under strain within days. Iran announced Saturday it was closing the strait again after Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia. The strikes killed at least 16 people and injured 12, according to Lebanese Civil Defense officials. Iran contends the strikes violated the ceasefire terms included in the MOU. Israel has not publicly accepted that position.
Trump addressed Tehran directly on Truth Social Sunday morning. “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” he wrote. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
The Swiss talks, originally scheduled for Friday, were delayed twice as the Lebanon situation escalated. Vance met Sunday outside Lucerne with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. Pakistan and Qatar are serving as co-mediators in the negotiations.
“We’re all working towards regional peace,” Vance told reporters Sunday. “There, of course, are going to be sometimes disagreements about precisely how to get there, but I actually feel pretty great about where we are in Lebanon.”
“There’s still some additional wood to chop, but we’re going to keep on working at it,” he added.
The 14-point MOU has drawn criticism from some of Trump’s own allies. Conservative hawks and Iran policy experts have raised concerns that the agreement could give Tehran access to substantial reconstruction funding before the country dismantles its nuclear program. Trump dismissed those concerns as “Fake News.”
Vance pushed back against the skeptics as well, assuring critics that Iran would not be “receiving any cash” under the agreement’s current terms.
Gas prices have fallen since the original MOU took effect Wednesday. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.95 as of Sunday, according to AAA.
