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Trump says US will continue holding talks with Iran, but ceasefire is over
US President Donald Trump said Friday that the US has agreed to continue holding talks with Iran, but reiterated that the ceasefire with Tehran is over as Iran threatened to expand its retaliatory attacks to targets in Israel.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the ceasefire is OVER!” Trump wrote, on his Truth Social platform.
The statement’s implications were unclear, however, especially given that the White House signaled Thursday night that it was prepared to adhere to the terms of the memorandum of understanding it signed with Iran last month if Tehran were to do the same.
The Truth Social post came amid reports that Qatari, Pakistani and other mediators had scrambled to quell the US-Iran flare-up, and to prevent the MOU from collapsing altogether.
A Qatari delegation visited the Islamic Republic on Friday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Axios reported that the visit was coordinated with the US and quoted a diplomat as saying, “It’s clear both sides want to come back to the MOU.”
According to Axios, mediators thought the US and Iran had made progress toward a nuclear accord during talks held prior to the flare-up.
Iran threatens to hit Israel in response to US attacks
Hours before Trump’s social media post, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Council threatened to target Israel in response to American attacks.
“As we have already announced, any attack on infrastructure will be retaliated against, and the criminal Zionist regime responsible for these atrocities will not be spared from the response of our fighters,” said Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, in a statement carried by state TV.
In Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reported that some in Jerusalem wanted to renew strikes on Iran, but were waiting for Trump’s go-ahead to do so.
The unsourced report said officials in Jerusalem estimated that the mutual attacks between the US and Iran would continue in the coming days.
Similarly, The New York Post quoted a Jerusalem source who said Israel was interested in joining future strikes and fully renewing the war.
“We’re willing to do it again, if needed,” the unnamed source was quoted as saying on Wednesday, before the US began striking Iran.
The source added that while Israel was “not eager to go back to the day when people have to go to shelters,” it doesn’t want to “ignore what’s happening in Iran.”
“So if that will be the price we’ll have to pay, we will bear with that situation.”
The latest escalation was prompted by attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz that Washington said were carried out by Iran, renewing concerns about the recovery of global oil shipping after a months-long, war-induced closure of the vital waterway.
While the most recent exchange of fire has remained confined to the Gulf, Jerusalem is preparing for multiple scenarios, given concerns that the situation could deteriorate rapidly, Channel 12 has reported.
The fighting, which began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28, entered a truce on April 8, and the US and Iran are engaged in talks based on the memorandum of understanding they reached last month.
Israel is not a party to the memorandum or the talks, and Israeli officials have criticized the document for failing to secure a concrete concession from Iran on its nuclear program.
The MOU saw the sides agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz toll-free for 60 days, but Iran claims the document still gives it the right to manage shipping through the corridor.
International shipping group rejects Iran’s strait ‘authority’
Protection of shipping lanes was discussed at a session this week of the UN’s London-based International Maritime Organization’s 40-member governing council, where Gulf countries, the United States and Iran clashed over the future of the strait.
The IMO Council passed a non-binding decision, saying it “strongly condemns” Iran’s decision to “establish an entity purporting to control traffic through the strait.”
Closing IMO Council’s 137th session, @IMOSecGen thanked delegates for their commitment. Member States adopted a Council resolution reaffirming IMO’s support for protecting vital shipping lanes and the right of transit passage through international straits. https://t.co/bGQdXwwinX pic.twitter.com/YqDruEMXtS
— International Maritime Organization (@IMOHQ) July 10, 2026
The resolution called upon member states not to recognize “Iran’s claim of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, its assertions of jurisdiction over the maritime zones of third states in and around the strait, which violated the sovereignty, sovereign rights and exclusive jurisdiction of these states” and not to recognize any Iranian decisions aimed at “closing, obstructing, hampering or otherwise interfering with international navigation and the right of transit passage.”
Iran’s recently created Persian Gulf Strait Authority said in an advisory last month that no vessel was permitted to pass through the waterway “without a valid passage permit” issued by the body.
Iran, which does not have a seat on the Council, told IMO delegates this week it rejected “the selective, politically motivated and legally unfounded allegations” made against it. It added that its steps are meant to “safeguard Iran’s sovereignty and vital security interests,” and “do not constitute the closure of the strait.”
Russia suspends return of workers to Iran’s nuclear plant
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, meanwhile, said Friday it had suspended the return of its first employees to the construction site of new units at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant following new strikes on Iran.
An Iranian official told state media on Thursday that a projectile had struck the perimeter area of the facility, hitting a military site on the outskirts of Bushehr.
“A few hours ago, the first group of people – six individuals – began their journey to the site, but following the attacks that took place last night, we have halted our team’s progress in Tehran,” the Russian state corporation’s chief, Alexei Likhachev, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
“We will decide on the next steps in the near future,” he said.
Rosatom, which is building two new units at Bushehr, evacuated more than 600 staff to Russia after the launch of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28. Some of them started returning, arriving in Tehran, where their further journey to the plant was put on hold.
The Russian state nuclear corporation has left only 20 personnel there to maintain construction activities and has said that the expansion of the plant remains one of its priorities.
