US-Iran 60-Day Deal Deadline Passes With No Final Agreement, Trump Threatens to Bomb Oman

The 60-day clock that Washington and Tehran set for themselves ran out Monday, August 17, and there's no comprehensive deal to show for it.

Go back to June 17. Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran at the Palace of Versailles during the G7, following a Sunday ceasefire announcement that ended more than three months of fighting between the US, Israel, and Iran. That framework gave both sides 60 days to hammer out sanctions relief, Iran's nuclear program, and inspections. Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey brokered the original truce, according to Breitbart, with a signing ceremony that followed in Switzerland.

That window closed Monday. No final agreement exists.

Trump Says He's Not Rushing

Speaking with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst on Monday, Trump said Iran should "put up the white flag of surrender." But he also said he's not imposing a new deadline.

"I have no time schedule. I'm not in a hurry," Trump said.

He made similar comments dismissing concerns that the ongoing conflict could hurt Republicans in the midterms, telling Yingst that midterms have "nothing to do with my thinking."

Asked about US weapons stockpiles after months of fighting, Trump downplayed any shortage. "What we've used is peanuts," he said. "We have a lot of mid-level weapons." That claim runs against outside estimates. Some assessments cited by Fox News show the US has burned through more than half its stockpile of certain missile systems as of early August. The Center for Strategic and International Studies has said the US still has enough munitions to sustain operations in Iran under any plausible scenario, but the group flagged the depleted stockpiles as a real problem for America's ability to handle a separate future conflict.

The Oman Threat

Trump also threatened Oman on Monday, saying the US will "bomb the s--- out of them" if the Gulf nation, which has been mediating shipping arrangements through the Strait of Hormuz with Iran, "gets in the way."

This isn't new territory for Trump. He threatened Oman, a longtime US ally, back in May over the same issue, according to CNN. Aaron Blake, a senior political reporter for The Washington Post, noted that Trump has launched strikes in seven countries during his second term alone—Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen—and has threatened or floated strikes against seven more, including Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, Mexico, Panama, and now Oman a second time.