WASHINGTON / TEHRAN (Sept. 20, 2026) — President Donald Trump said Sunday he is weighing three paths on Iran — a deal, “letting them rot economically,” or wiping the country out entirely — as Tehran’s security chief said Iran has conveyed a fresh set of conditions to end the war through Qatari mediators and is waiting for Washington’s reply.

In a call with Fox News, Trump framed the choice bluntly, according to the New York Post (Ally Goelz, ~10:30 a.m. ET): Iran makes a deal with the United States, or he chooses between economic strangulation and total destruction. “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up?” Trump said, per the Post. “They better behave.”

The warning lands in about the seventh month of the conflict. Earlier this week, Trump told Axios he had a “big decision coming up” over whether to “annihilate” Iran’s regime, the Post reported. He has also said the war could end soon if Tehran accepts what he calls an acceptable deal — while leaving open escalation language that treats an entire nation as a bargaining chip.

On the Iranian side, security chief Mohsen Rezaei told Al Jazeera in an interview published Saturday that Tehran conveyed its conditions to the United States via Qatar and is awaiting a response. Fox News Digital separately described Iran’s weekend list as “seven core demands.” Al Jazeera published the following conditions from Rezaei:

  • An end to the war on all fronts, including, in particular, Lebanon
  • Release of frozen Iranian funds “that run into billions of US dollars”
  • An end to the naval blockade on Iranian ports
  • An end to U.S. interference in Iran’s internal affairs
  • An end to U.S. cooperation with “the opponents of our revolution”
  • An end to all U.S. attacks on Iranian territory

“It is in Washington’s interest to accept these conditions. Trump’s threats will not achieve any results. We are prepared for a decisive war,” Rezaei said, per Al Jazeera.

On Sunday morning, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States fulfills its commitments, Al Jazeera reported. “Until these conditions are met, the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation are recognised, and American commitments are fulfilled, there will be no opening for a return to the previous state of negotiations or for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Ghalibaf said.

Context matters for the impasse: a June 17, 2026, 60-day memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran expired last month. Full-scale fighting has been paused for months, Al Jazeera noted, but attacks have risen around Hormuz — which Iran has in effect closed — while the United States maintains a blockade of Iran’s southern ports. Escalating tanker attacks and Houthi pressure on Red Sea routes have pushed oil above $100 a barrel in recent weeks, Al Jazeera said. The war itself began in late February after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

As of Al Jazeera’s Sunday reporting, the United States had not publicly answered the new conditions. Rezaei said Iran is “waiting for the Americans to accept and implement” them. Separately, Trump cut short a Camp David weekend Saturday and returned to Washington without a public explanation — covered in our prior State Department Middle East caution / Camp David return package — as the administration weighed next steps ahead of a planned U.N. trip, Fox News Digital reported.

Open-ended talk of “blowing up” an entire country, naval blockades that choke commerce, and peace conditions delivered through third-party mediators are all concentrated state power under wartime stress. Attribute every claim: Trump’s Fox phrasing comes via the New York Post; Iran’s conditions and Ghalibaf’s Hormuz line come via Al Jazeera; the “seven core demands” framing is Fox News Digital’s. Neither capital’s war narrative should be treated as settled fact without primary corroboration.

Sources