Trump threatens Iran with ‘big hit’ if there's no deal soon

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump threatened to resume strikes on Iran in the coming days as part of the push for a deal to end the war, after he said he had just called off a U.S. attack. 

“I hope we don’t have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. When asked how long he would wait, he said: “Well, I mean, I’m saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Something maybe early next week - a limited period of time.”

Trump’s comments once again raised the prospect of a return to active hostilities with Iran, which has so far refused to bow to Trump’s demands to relinquish the remaining elements of its nuclear program after weeks of strikes that began in late February. But the president has repeatedly threatened - and then backed off from - renewed military action since a truce was agreed on April 8. 

The conflict has shuttered the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas flows, causing global energy prices and inflation to surge. Yields on the U.S. Treasury’s longest-dated bonds rose to the highest level in almost two decades on investor concerns about the Middle East war’s growing macroeconomic impact. 

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Vice President JD Vance projected a slightly more positive tone on the negotiations, even as he, too, threatened a resumption of strikes. “We think that we’ve made a lot of progress, we think the Iranians want to make a deal,” he said, adding that “option B” was restarting the military campaign. 

“But that’s not what the president wants,” he continued. “And I don’t think it’s what the Iranians want either.” 

Despite losing many of its senior leaders and a huge amount of its military assets to U.S. and Israeli bombing, Iran’s regime has survived and frustrated U.S. officials by maintaining a chokehold over Hormuz, pushing up fuel pump prices in the U.S. to their highest in almost four years.

U.S. Central Command has redirected 88 vessels and disabled four while enforcing the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a post on X.

Trump said on Monday he held off on a new bombardment of Iran planned for Tuesday at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president has previously attributed policy shifts on the Iran war to requests from allies and partners, including mediator Pakistan. 

Shipments through Hormuz have dwindled once again, though stock traders are closely watching whether the NATO alliance will help ships pass through the waterway if it isn’t reopened by early July.

While Trump regularly moves financial markets with his comments about Iran, market analysts said some of that impact is fading as the president issues threats that he doesn’t follow through on. 

“These hot-air verbal interventions from Trump used to have a heavy bearish impact on prices, but they now seem to have less and less effect, unless they are backed by reality,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB. “As far as we can see, there has been no real progress in the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, with both sides still standing by their previous demands.”

The shakiness of the truce was underscored on Sunday when the UAE’s nuclear-energy plant of Barakah was hit by a drone, causing a fire at a power station and forcing engineers to switch on emergency generators. 

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced late Monday that normal power had been restored at Barakah, easing safety concerns over the Middle East’s biggest atomic plant.

Tehran has signaled it could again strike its Gulf neighbors if the U.S. renews its attacks. 

NATO not drawing up plans for Hormuz mission, top commander says

NATO is not drawing up any plans for a potential mission in the Strait of Hormuz and would need a political decision to do so, its top commander said on Tuesday, amid suggestions by some members that the alliance could play a role there.

Any decision to launch a mission would require the approval of all NATO’s 32 members, and several have already signaled opposition, although no formal proposal has been presented so far, according to diplomats.

“The conditions under which NATO would consider operating in the Strait of Hormuz are ultimately a political decision,” said U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander for Europe.

“The political direction comes first, and then the formal planning happens after that. Am I thinking about it? Absolutely. ... But there’s no planning yet until the political decision is taken,” he told reporters in Brussels.

Trump has berated NATO members for not being willing to help open the Strait. European nations have said they do not want to be drawn into the war - which was launched without consulting them - but are ready to help secure the Strait after the war.

So far, France and Britain have taken the lead in putting together a coalition of countries that could help ensure safe transit through the Strait once the situation there stabilizes or the conflict is resolved.

But some countries say NATO could have some role to play, even if it is not leading a mission, according to diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

“Some allies believe NATO should play a role in Hormuz. NATO has a lot of maritime capabilities,” said one European diplomat.

However, multiple countries are opposed or hesitant about NATO involvement in the region, four diplomats told Reuters.

“Many allies do not see a role for NATO as such in that endeavor,” said one of the diplomats.

Inquiry into strike on Iran girls’ school near conclusion, US admiral says

A U.S. military investigation into a strike at a girls’ school in Iran has been “complex” given that it was located on an active Iranian cruise missile base, but the probe is approaching its conclusion, a U.S. military commander said on Tuesday.

Reuters first reported that an initial, internal U.S. military investigation showed U.S. forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe but it has not acknowledged any preliminary findings.

The incident took place on February 28, the first day of the conflict, and killed more than 175 children and teachers, Iranian officials say.

“I’m always reluctant to put a timetable on it. (The investigation) is coming to the end and I think transparency is important,” U.S. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of Central Command, testified on Tuesday before a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Democratic lawmakers pressed Cooper to publicly acknowledge the likely U.S. responsibility.

“It’s really pretty clear what happened there. But 80 days on, we have not taken responsibility for that attack,” said U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Smith noted past examples of errant U.S. strikes and how the Pentagon would accept initial responsibility ahead of the completion of its investigation.

But Cooper suggested the school strike was different.

“The school itself is located on an active IRGC cruise missile base. It’s more complex than the average strike,” he told Smith.

Archived copies of the school’s official website show the school is adjacent to a compound operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military force that reports to Iran’s supreme leader.

Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, has reported that U.S. officials responsible for creating targeting packages appeared to have used out-of-date intelligence.

Hours later, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei described the statements as “baseless fabrication.”

“Targeting an active educational institution during school hours constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and is a clear war crime. The civilian nature of the site cannot be obscured by technical misrepresentations,” he said on X.

Cooper said the U.S. military never targets civilians and said it would follow the law of war “to a T.”

Bessent urges more disruption to Iran’s financing, to review US sanctions list

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday called on allies to more forcefully disrupt Iran’s financing networks and said the Treasury would scrub its sanctions list of outdated designations to make it easier for financial institutions to root out the most sophisticated terrorist financing schemes.

Bessent told an anti-terrorism financing conference after G7 finance leaders met in Paris that participants needed to “stand with us in full measure” against Iran.

“That will require, for example, our European partners to join the United States in taking action against Iran by designating its financiers, unmasking its shell and front companies, shuttering its bank branches, and dismantling its proxies,” Bessent said. “It will require those of you in the Middle East and Asia to root out Iran’s shadow banking networks.”

Bessent told Reuters in an interview that Iranian bank branches in Europe were not taking deposits, but “that branch manager is doing something. Just close it.”

His comments came as the Treasury Department imposed fresh sanctions on Iran’s shadow tanker fleet and an Iranian foreign currency exchange house and what called other front companies.

The agency has stepped up its sanctions efforts through a program dubbed “Economic Fury.” It aims to disrupt Iran’s shadow banking networks, and has frozen nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency linked to Iran’s regime.

To make this more effective, the department will modernize its sanctions architecture because “our adversaries adapt and innovate” by creating new shell companies.

Most U.S. Treasury sanctions are imposed on individuals, companies and other entities that are added to its Specially Designated Nationals List, which contains tens of thousands of designees that are cut off from the dollar-based financial system and see assets frozen. Anyone who transacts with designated entities risks being sanctioned themselves.

“To sharpen national security outcomes, Treasury is tailoring our sanctions program for the 21st century. We are reviewing outdated designations to help financial institutions focus on the most sophisticated terrorist financing and sanctions evasion schemes,” Bessent said.

Bloomberg News writers Courtney Subramanian and Carla Canivete, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 10:52 AM.