Trump offers mixed messages about path ahead for US war against Iran
[April 21, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI, MUNIR AHMED and RUSS BYNUM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump offered mixed messages on
Monday about the path ahead for the U.S. war against Iran, declaring
that he was in no rush to end the conflict while also expressing
confidence that further negotiations with Tehran will soon take place in
Pakistan.
With the 14-day ceasefire to expire Wednesday, Trump whipsawed in
telephone interviews and social media posts between measured optimism
that a deal could soon be reached and warning that “lots of bombs” will
“start going off” if there's no agreement before the ceasefire deadline.
Trump indicated that he still expects to dispatch his negotiating team,
led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad for a
second round of talks, even as Iran insisted it would not take part
until Trump dialed back his demands.
Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf,
accused the United States of wanting Iran to surrender and added that on
the contrary, Iran has been preparing “to reveal new cards on the
battlefield."
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats,” Qalibaf
wrote in a post on X early Tuesday.
Trump insisted he feels no pressure to end the war until Iran agrees to
his terms.
“I am under no pressure whatsoever,” Trump said on his Truth Social
platform, “although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!”
Pakistani officials moved ahead with preparations for a new round of
talks between the U.S. and Iran as the tenuous ceasefire was further
strained over the weekend by renewed conflict around the Strait of
Hormuz.
Trump told Bloomberg News he was “highly unlikely” to renew the
ceasefire.
Iran holds out on resuming negotiations
Tensions flared after the U.S. Navy attacked and seized a ship on Sunday
that it said was trying to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. On
Saturday, Iran fired at vessels and abruptly stopped traffic in the
strait, abandoning its promise to allow some ships to pass and claiming
the U.S. was not holding up its side of the ceasefire.
The U.S. actions are “incompatible with the claim of diplomacy,” Iranian
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday in a social media post.
He gave no indication what Iran will do after the ceasefire expires or
whether Iran will return to a second round of negotiations with the U.S.
Over the weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from the U.S.
but suggested that a wide gap remains between the sides. Issues that
derailed the last round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear
enrichment program, its regional proxies and the strait.
Iran has throttled traffic through the strait, which connects the
Persian Gulf to the open seas, since shortly after the U.S. and Israel
attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war. The U.S. has also instituted
a blockade of Iranian ports. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade
normally passes through the strait.
Trump swipes at war critics, seeks to calm investors
The U.S. president lashed out at war critics at home who are urging him
to wrap up the conflict that began more than seven weeks ago.
“How bad is it that when you are in the middle of negotiations and you
have got the Iranians in a perfect position, including being militarily
defeated, and you have Democrats and some Republicans asking to settle
it now?” Trump told the New York Post.
Even as Trump bristled at his detractors, he sought to soothe jittery
investors as U.S. stocks slipped modestly Monday, following the chaotic
weekend in the Persian Gulf.
The president found himself remonstrating his energy secretary, Chris
Wright, who on Sunday said American motorists might not see gas prices
fall back into the $3 per gallon range until late this year or next
year.
“I disagree with him totally. I think it’ll come roaring down if it
ends,” Trump told PBS. “If we end it, if Iran does what they should do,
it will come roaring down.”
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A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-32 plane approaches landing at Nur Khan
airbase ahead of second round of negotiations between the U.S. and
Iran, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ehsan
Shahzad)
Israel-Lebanon talks to resume, official says
Meanwhile, historic diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon were
set to resume Thursday in Washington, an Israeli, a Lebanese and a
U.S. official said. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to
discuss the behind-the-scenes negotiations.
The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met last week for the first
direct diplomatic talks in decades. Israel says the talks are aimed
at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with Lebanon.
A 10-day ceasefire began Friday in Lebanon, where fighting between
Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants broke out two days
after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran. Fighting in
Lebanon has killed more than 2,290 people.
In two separate encounters on Monday, the Israeli air force struck
and killed Hezbollah militants that the military said approached its
troops in a threatening way. Israel has carried out several
airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect.
Hezbollah said it detonated explosives Sunday in an Israeli convoy
inside Lebanon.
Iran says more than 3,000 have been killed in the country so far
Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in
Iran, according to a new toll released Monday in official Iranian
media by Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine
Organization.
He did not break down casualties among civilians and security
forces, saying instead that 2,875 were male and 496 were female.
Masjedi said 383 of the dead were children 18 years old and younger.
Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in
Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S.
service members throughout the region have been killed.
Oil prices on the rise again after renewed conflict in Strait of
Hormuz
Iran’s grip on the strait has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given
rise to one of the worst global energy crises in decades.
Oil prices were up again Monday, with Brent crude, the international
standard, at just over $95 a barrel — up from about $70 a barrel
before the war started.
Iran said it had reopened the strait to ships Friday, but traffic
halted after Trump refused to lift the U.S. blockade.
Sunday's U.S. seizure of the Iranian cargo was the first such
interception under the blockade. Iran’s joint military command
called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire
violation.
Trump said the blockade will remain “in full force” until Tehran
agrees to a deal. The U.S. military said on Monday that it has
directed 27 ships to return to Iranian ports since the blockade
began last week.
___
Ahmed reported from Islamabad, and Bynum reported from Savannah,
Georgia. Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates; David Rising in Bangkok; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv,
Israel; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Joshua Boak and Matthew Lee in
Washington; and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Minneapolis contributed to
this report.
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