President Donald Trump on Monday again threatened Iran with overwhelming military force, saying “lots of bombs [will] start going off” if no deal is reached before a shaky ceasefire with Tehran expires Tuesday evening.
The latest threat, made in a phone call with a PBS News reporter, came as the status of additional U.S.-Iran peace talks, and other key details on the current relationship between the warring powers, appeared to grow increasingly opaque.
At the same time, Trump has resumed his saber-rattling rhetoric, which had escalated two weeks ago before the expiring fragile ceasefire was reached. Trump, in phone calls with reporters over the past two days, has vacillated between war mongering and unclear details about the status of further peace talks.
Monday’s threat of more bombing followed a Sunday morning declaration to a Fox News reporter that “the whole country is going to get blown up” and that if Tehran doesn’t sign a deal, Iran’s bridges and power plants will be targeted in those attacks.
The threats escalate tensions with Iran even as a U.S. delegation gears up to travel back to Pakistan for a potential second round of peace talks.
