Tanker hit in Strait of Hormuz as Tehran threatens to end talks over Trump threats

Iran’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that Tehran would not resume talks if threats continued, a day after President Trump said the US would “finish the job” if there was no peace deal.

In a social media post, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said neither the Iranian people nor the Islamic Republic’s forces would be “intimidated by any threats,” without referring directly to Mr.

“Negotiations on the final agreement will not start if the threats continue,” Araghchi warned, citing memorandum of understanding signed by President Trump and his Iranian counterpart in mid-June, demanding that both sides “refrain from threatening or using force against the other.”

“Honor your signature,” added Araghchi.

A tanker off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz burst into flames in the early hours of Tuesday after it was hit by an explosive device, the British military said.

The attack was the latest to target a vessel passing through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded has passed in peacetime. Iran’s state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker was attacked after it ignored warnings but did not say it had been attacked.

Tehran has repeatedly declared that its only authorized route through the strait is safe and is suspected of attacking other ships that have used an alternative route near the Omani coast.

President Trump warned Iran on Monday that the US “will make a deal or we will end the job.”

“I prefer to make a deal, because I don’t want to affect 91 million people,” said Mr. “We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can destroy their power.”

Negotiations between the US and Iran have been stalled for the burial of a top Iranian leader who was killed in a US-Iranian strike at the start of the war in February.

Authorities flew the coffin of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Shiite clerical city of Qom, where many people had gathered to pay their respects.

Iranian state television early Tuesday broadcast live footage from a helicopter of hundreds of thousands of people marching toward the Jamkaran Mosque, south of Qom, for a funeral service for the former supreme leader, who was killed in an Israeli or US strike on Feb. 28, the first day of the war.

As the week-long funeral continues, mourners have been calling for Khamenei’s death to be avenged, holding signs and chanting about the assassination of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Such signs were also seen on Monday along the procession route.

“We are here to show that his path will continue, and every one of these people will continue his path with fists tied, and soon we will avenge his death to the US and Israel,” said mourner Sahar Zaraatgar.

US authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against the president and other administration officials for years, since Mr. Trump 2020. the assassination of Qassem Soleimaniwho led Iran’s Quds Force. Iran has repeatedly denied a plot to kill Mr. Trump, although a strong propaganda video produced by the regime has long suggested that he is in different parts of Tehran.

Mr. Trump, for his part, has promised to destroy Iran’s civilization during war, among other threats.