WASHINGTON — President Trump claimed Monday that “I really don’t care” if talks between the US and Iran break down after Iran threatened to cut off indirect communication in response to Israeli airstrikes on Beirut.
“I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told CNBC in a phone interview. “If they’re over, they’re over. If they’re not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring.”
A few moments later, Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social: “I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.
“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.“
“Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” the president added in a follow-up post.
Earlier Monday, the Israeli military had issued a relocation notice urging residents to leave the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as the Dahieh district, where Hezbollah is thought to have a strong presence.
“Should Hezbollah continue to fire toward our cities and communities, the IDF will respond by striking terrorist targets in Dahieh,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “Israel is not at war with the Lebanese people, but with the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
Soon after, an IRGC-affiliated media outlet reported Tehran would stop communicating with Washington in protest of the restarted conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon — disrupting weeks of attempts to find a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart formal peace talks.
“In light of the ongoing crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon and given that Lebanon was part of the ceasefire preconditions, and now this ceasefire has been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon, the Iranian negotiating team is suspending ‘discussions and exchanges of texts through intermediaries,’” the Tasnim News Agency wrote on X.
The announcement immediately affected oil prices, which jumped 5% after Tasnim’s initial report suggested the diplomatic efforts to end the war were breaking down.
Tasnim went on to claim that “there will be no dialogue” between Tehran and Washington until Israel withdraws from Lebanon and stops all strikes on Lebanon and Gaza.
“The immediate halt to the aggressive and brutal operations of the Zionist regime’s army in Gaza and Lebanon, and the necessity of the regime’s complete withdrawal from the occupied areas in Lebanon, have been emphasized by Iranian officials and negotiators, and as long as Iran’s and the resistance’s stance on this matter is not satisfied, there will be no dialogue,” Tasnim reported.”
Iran also threatened to open new fronts in the war, including targeting another oil chokepoint in the region.
“The Resistance Front and Iran have resolved to pursue the complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the activation of other fronts, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as part of their agenda to punish the Zionists and their supporters,” the IRGC-affiliated outlet wrote.
In an earlier call with NBC News, the president claimed he had not been informed that Iran had broken off indirect negotiations with the US — and added that did not mean a restart of hostilities was at hand.
“It’s an appropriate thing to say, because they’re better negotiators than they are fighters,” he said. “But they haven’t informed us of that.”
“It doesn’t mean we’re going to go and start dropping bombs all over there,” Trump added. “We’ll keep the blockade.”
Despite Iran’s claims, Tehran has remained in touch with chief mediator Pakistan, with Islamabad Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaking with Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Monday.
“FM Araghchi expressed serious concern over recent developments in the region, including ceasefire violations in Lebanon by Israel and the orders by the Israeli government regarding potential attack in parts of Beirut,” Dar’s office said in a readout of their call.
A source with knowledge of negotiation efforts declined to confirm or deny the report, noting that “anything official will be communicated.”
Tasnim’s report came after Araghchi claimed any cease-fire between Washington and Tehran is a “cease-fire on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
“A ceasefire between Iran and the United States constitutes, without any ambiguity, a comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon,” he said in a post to X. “Any violation of this ceasefire on one front shall be considered a violation of it across all fronts.”
“The United States and Israel bear responsibility for the consequences of any breach of the truce.”
The US has previously said the cease-fire between the US and Iran should not be tied to a halt to Israeli operations in Lebanon.
