Trump Rejects Iran’s Latest Offer, Signals New Talks This Week

President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal while saying he expects another round of talks as soon as this week.

The conflict with Tehran continues, and the president made clear that Iran’s current terms do not meet his demands.

Trump told Axios during a phone interview, “I expect more talks with Iran [this week].”

He then explained, “They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.”

Iran had offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil shipping.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the waterway was already open, with between 15 million and 22 million barrels passing through each day compared with about 20 million before the conflict.

Bessent predicted that Iran would complete its remaining oil shipments to China within two weeks.

He said approximately 15 million barrels remain scheduled for delivery as the United States blockades Iranian ports through Operation Economic Outcast.

“They will have nothing to trade for anything, probably within the next two weeks. They are going to make their final deliveries of oil to China, and then they will have nothing,” Bessent said.

The Treasury chief said Iran was “feeling the pressure,” which he linked to Tehran’s renewed interest in reaching a deal.

Trump administration officials likewise argued that Iran is miscalculating if it believes higher prices and the approaching midterm elections will weaken the president’s negotiating position.

Three hours of talks during the week ended without an announced breakthrough.

State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott nevertheless projected confidence during an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, saying, “The president holds all of the cards here.”

Americans are also confronting higher fuel costs. AAA reported that the national average for regular gasoline reached $4.49 per gallon Friday, an increase from $3.16 one year earlier and the highest average ever recorded for that time of year.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged those costs while arguing that the consequences of allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon would be much greater.

“It comes at a price and at a cost, there’s no doubt about it,” Rubio said. “But the cost of not doing something about it is substantially higher, especially for future generations.”

Trump said Sunday that he believes the war will be won “very soon” and declined to rule out more military strikes before the midterm elections.

He said the United States was succeeding through military and economic pressure and insisted that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained central.

“We’re certainly winning it very big. If you look at their economy, it’s gone,” Trump said. “The value of their money is, as they say, valueless. We have inflation. They have inflation now of close to 300%. I heard 318% as of this morning. 300, meaning their money is shot, their economy is shot, their military is shot. They’re in trouble.”

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U.S. Central Command also rejected Tehran’s claim that Iranian forces control the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran has no navy because American forces sank it. And Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz as evidenced by the thousands of ships that have passed through freely along with more than 1 billion barrels of oil just over the past few months,” CENTCOM wrote on X.

Security concerns extended to Britain, where authorities arrested five men between the ages of 23 and 25 near RAF Fairford.

The suspects, all identified as U.K. nationals, were initially detained under Britain’s Explosives Act before being arrested on terrorism charges connected to the U.S. Air Force bomber base.

Counter Terrorism Police said investigators were pursuing multiple new lines of enquiry. Senior official Vicki Evans described the operation as “hugely complex” and asked that police be given room to investigate amid speculation about the incident’s motivation and broader geopolitical questions.

The Iranian Embassy in the U.K. denied any connection to the suspects and condemned speculation linking Tehran to the alleged plot. British authorities are leading the investigation alongside U.S. law enforcement and intelligence, according to former Trump White House official Morgan Murphy.

Trump said U.S. authorities had monitored the suspects before their arrests. “We had them under investigation,” he told reporters in Chicago, adding, “They were looking to do big damage to our fort.”

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was prepared for either diplomacy or war as talks could resume this week.

Trump, meanwhile, has left both economic and military options in play while refusing to accept a proposal he says falls short.