President Trump is keeping every option on the table with Iran. In a TIME interview published Thursday, he confirmed he rejected Tehran's latest ceasefire proposal over the weekend. "They made an offer to open up the Strait," he said. "It's just, it's just, it's not good enough. Nearly. They want to make a deal, but I want to make the real deal."
The administration's position: terms that might have worked a year ago don't cut it after seven months of war. Trump says U.S. strikes destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities, navy, air force and radar — and now Washington wants the complete, permanent dismantling of Iran's nuclear capabilities, naval presence and proxy networks. Asked directly whether bombing could ramp up after the midterms, his one-word answer was "Possible," adding that the U.S. has spent six months stockpiling weapons "at levels we've never done before."
Tehran isn't walking away from the table. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that Iran "will never shy away from dialogue," and indirect talks continue through mediators including Qatar. Critics read Trump's open-ended answers as escalation; his camp calls it deliberate ambiguity — maximum pressure while diplomacy runs in the background.
The interview covered more ground: Trump wouldn't rule out declaring a state of emergency or invoking the Insurrection Act before the midterms ("I could use it"), said he'd consider preemptive pardons for administration members, and claimed the Secret Service suggested tearing down and rebuilding the Oval Office — an idea he says he rejected.