US President Donald Trump has warned that US troops will continue to be deployed around Iran and threatened overwhelming military action if Tehran fails to meet Washington’s demands, casting doubt on the fragile ceasefire.
President Trump wrote on social media late Wednesday that U.S. troops, aircraft and naval forces would remain in place until what he called a “real deal” was fully implemented.
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“All U.S. ships, aircraft, and military personnel will remain in and around Iran until the real deal reached is fully complied with,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“If for some reason we can’t… ‘Shootin’ Starts’ is bigger, better and more powerful than anything anyone has ever seen before.”
The comments came a day after a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, suspending six weeks of fighting, temporarily calmed global markets over concerns about disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.
But President Trump’s words underscored how quickly the ceasefire could unravel. He called on Iran to abandon any nuclear weapons ambitions and for the United States to ensure safe passage through vital shipping lanes, while boasting that the U.S. military was “loaded up and resting, in fact looking forward to its next conquest.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Iran’s semi-official ISNA and Tasnim news agencies published diagrams suggesting that the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) paramilitary group had planted sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz during the war.
Nautical charts showed a large circle marked in Farsi as “danger zone” above the traffic separation plan, the route ships would take through the strait. The chart suggests that the ships were sailing further north through waters close to mainland Iran near Raraku Island, and some ships were observed to have taken this route during the war. The dates were listed as February 28 to April 9, and it was unclear whether the IRGC had cleared any mines along the route since then.
“A ceasefire has no meaning at all.”
Skepticism persists on the ground in Iran.
Many Iranians in Tehran question whether diplomacy can survive in the shadow of continued US threats and ongoing Israeli military operations across the region.
One woman told Al Jazeera: “It would be very good if there was no murder or bloodshed for even one day. It would make us happy. I swear to God, when I saw all this murder, I was so upset that I couldn’t even stay in my own house.”
Another man pointed out Israel’s continued shelling of Lebanon and directly rejected the cease-fire agreement.
“A ceasefire is completely meaningless when martyred leaders are still not buried and the rules of war are still being violated.”
A third resident was even more blunt: “This is all a play played by Trump. We don’t believe in this ceasefire.”
The ceasefire itself remains fraught with contradictions.
Iran has rejected the sweeping U.S. proposal and instead offered its own demands, including an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and the lifting of sanctions, conditions that Washington has not accepted.
US-Iran talks in Pakistan
Despite the uncertainty, Iranian officials appear to have confirmed that a delegation will head to Islamabad for talks with U.S. representatives in the coming days.
Reza Amiri Moghaddam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, said in a post on X on Thursday that a “delegation will arrive in Islamabad tonight for serious talks on the 10 points proposed by Iran.” However, he later deleted the post.
The situation comes after authorities in Pakistan’s capital suddenly declared a two-day local holiday on Wednesday without giving reasons.
Israel has already made moves to undermine the credibility of the ceasefire. While appearing to support Washington’s moratorium on direct attacks on Iran, it has stepped up attacks on Lebanon, launching the deadliest offensive since February, killing at least 182 people in a single day.
The escalation has prompted the Iranian government to warn that it may be “irrational” to continue negotiations under these circumstances.
Meanwhile, voices opposing the war are increasing in the United States. Sen. Cory Booker said Democrats would seek to force a vote on the War Powers Resolution to curb what he described as unauthorized military action.
“President Trump’s unauthorized military actions and reckless warmongering must end,” Booker said.
“The American people did not want (this war) and did not authorize it, but they continue to pay the price.”
