Trump threatens to ‘take over’ Iran if Tehran closes the Strait of Hormuz in profanity filled tirade: report

Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he threatened to “take over” Iran if the Strait of Hormuz was not immediately re-opened. The president’s latest round of threats came in response to news Saturday that Iran was once again closing the key waterway, just days after signing an agreement to ensure that traffic could flow through. Iran announced that it would close the Strait of Hormuz after Israeli forces continued an all-out assault into Lebanon aimed at dislodging Hezbollah militants. Fox’s Trey Yingst reported on Sunday that in an early morning phone call, the U.S. president said he’d warned Iranian officials directly that "you close [the Strait of Hormuz] and you won't have a country.” "You won't even make it back to your f**king country,” Yingst said the president claimed to have relayed to the Iranians, adding: “We'll take over the rest of the country." The threat to occupy Iran as a whole is a new step for the president, who has been seeking a way out of the war he began since the conflict kicked off in February. In the days leading up to the ceasefire extension signing on Wednesday, the president was reportedly considering plans to deploy US military forces with the goal of occupying Kharg Island, a major Iranian oil industry hub. His latest disagreement with Tehran is a sign of just how shaky the U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains, as well as the continued failure of the White House to hold Israel in line. The Israeli offensive in Lebanon is viewed by some Trump advisers as an effort to directly undermine the ceasefire agreement signed by Trump, which Israeli officials have roundly denounced as insufficient. Israel’s strikes in Lebanon since the war began have killed more than 4,000 people, according to officials, and a new Israeli offensive is being lauded by top Israeli officials. On Friday, a post from Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was denounced by Iran’s foreign minister and many others after Ben-Gvir called for Israeli forces to “burn all of Lebanon”, declaring that “for every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep”. Trump, despite his denunciations, has been unable to curb this rhetoric or the Israeli assault. Vice President JD Vance departed for Switzerland this weekend as he is set to lead the latest round of peace talks with Iranian officials. Vice President JD Vance is leading the latest round of US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland (Getty) In recent days the Trump administration has made no secret about its displeasure with Israel’s foreign policy. From behind the White House press briefing stand, Vice President JD Vance warned Israeli officials not to alienate their closest remaining ally, the United States, and on a podcast last week he signaled even greater frustrations as he remarked that Israel couldn’t simply “kill” their way out of every problem. Donald Trump has also echoed such feelings, and has remarked that Israel would supposedly not exist without his administration’s support. But the more direct threats to Iran make another dynamic clear, too: When it comes down to it, the president will go much further to ensure Iran’s compliance with the ceasefire. Signed on Wednesday, the 60-day agreement extends an existing ceasefire between U.S. and Iranian forces while extending sanctions relief and the promise of unfrozen funds in U.S. banking systems if Iran complies further with the agreement. The U.S. secured a commitment from Iran to not seek nuclear weapons that mirrors language from the Obama-era nuclear agreement Trump tore up in 2018, and commitments to address and find a way to remove nuclear materials buried by U.S. strikes last summer. Conservative supporters of the president in Washington are divided over the agreement. Much of the terms appear to mirror the Obama nuclear deal Trump ripped up in 2018 and which was much maligned by the right in the years leading up; over the past week, both Republican and Democratic critics of the president have emerged on Capitol Hill and the conservative media sphere to denounce the deal as a betrayal of Israel and a defeat for America, which blockaded the Strait of Hormuz and sought to pressure Iran to open the strait for months, with limited success. “Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal,” wrote Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy on X after the deal’s terms were announced. “Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.” Of particular issue to both the deal’s hawkish critics on the right and the left is the administration’s tacit support of a $300 billion economic redevelopment fund for Iran. The White House and its allies maintain that this fund will not be supplied with American taxpayer dollars, and instead will represent a pool in which regional investors can contribute. But coupled with sanctions relief and the unfreezing of Iranian funds in U.S. financial systems, the strongest opponents of Iran’s government in Washington see the deal amounting to a massive payoff. Opposition to that fund is far from limited to Republicans, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has pledged that his caucus won’t provide votes for it should it come through Congress. Whether any of this will come through the Hill actually remains to be seen. On Thursday Vice President JD Vance indicated that the administration believed that many or all of the memorandum of understanding’s (MOU) terms, including sanctions relief, could be authorized directly by the administration without congressional approval.