President Donald Trump instructed his negotiating team Sunday not to rush a deal with Iran to end the Strait of Hormuz conflict, a directive that extends a nearly three-month naval blockade while global energy markets await resolution. Trump's Truth Social post came one day after he said an agreement was "largely negotiated," a statement that drew sharp criticism from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senator Ted Cruz. "Both sides must take their time and get it right," Trump wrote. "There can be no mistakes."
The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in effect until a final agreement is certified and signed, Trump confirmed in the Sunday post. That means the economic pressure on Tehran continues without a defined endpoint. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption passes, has been a flashpoint since hostilities erupted nearly three months ago. gasoline prices, according to AAA data cited by CNBC.
Here is what they are not telling you. The blockade itself is a negotiating instrument, not merely a military operation. By keeping it in place, Trump retains maximum leverage over Iranian decision-making.
Remove the blockade prematurely, and Tehran loses its primary incentive to compromise on nuclear enrichment limits. MS Now reported that the deal under negotiation would open the strait, end hostilities, unfreeze certain Iranian assets, and guarantee further talks to curb Tehran's nuclear program. Trump addressed the nuclear dimension directly. "Iran must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb," he wrote.
That language matters. It signals that any final agreement must include verifiable constraints on enrichment capability — a point Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reinforced hours later. Netanyahu said he spoke with Trump on Saturday night about the "memorandum of understanding to reopen the Straits of Hormuz and the upcoming negotiations toward a final agreement on Iran's nuclear program."
Netanyahu's demands were specific. Any deal must include "dismantling Iran's nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory," he said in a social media post. He added that Trump "reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon."
Israeli strikes in Lebanon have complicated past U.S.-Iran negotiations. That unresolved tension now sits inside the current talks, adding a layer of complexity that the public framing does not fully capture. The Republican backlash was swift and personal.
Pompeo, who led the State Department during Trump's first term, accused the administration of preparing to "[p]ay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world." His Saturday post on X was unambiguous. "Not remotely America First. It's straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money.
Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region."
Senator Ted Cruz echoed the criticism. "I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran 'deal,'" Cruz wrote Saturday. He warned against an outcome where the Iranian regime — "still run by Islamists who chant 'death to America'" — receives billions of dollars, enriches uranium, develops nuclear weapons, and controls the Strait of Hormuz. "That outcome would be a disastrous mistake," Cruz said. Trump addressed the critics without naming them. "If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon," he posted.
The reference was to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which constrained Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. from that multilateral agreement during his first term. Follow the leverage, not the rhetoric. Trump's negotiating position rests on a simple calculation: time favors the side with the blockade.
Iran's economy, already battered by sanctions, faces additional strain from the naval cordon. The president's instruction to slow-walk the talks suggests he believes that pressure will extract better terms. The math does not add up for Tehran.
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Iranian oil exports have dropped by an estimated 1.2 million barrels per day since the blockade began, according to tanker tracking data. That represents roughly $70 million in daily lost revenue at current prices. Every week the strait remains closed, Iran's bargaining position weakens.
Trump's surrogates spent Saturday attacking the deal's critics on social media before the president issued his Sunday response. The coordinated pushback suggests the White House views the internal Republican opposition as a threat to the negotiation's political viability. The 2015 JCPOA provides the unavoidable historical parallel.
That deal, negotiated by the Obama administration alongside the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China, limited Iran's uranium enrichment to 3.67% and reduced its stockpile of enriched material by 98%. In exchange, Iran received sanctions relief worth an estimated $100 billion. Trump called it "the worst deal ever" and exited in 2018.
Any new agreement must satisfy a Republican base that views the JCPOA as a strategic failure. That means the asset unfreezing component — reported by MS Now as part of the current framework — faces intense scrutiny. Pompeo's reference to paying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reflects a core conservative fear: that financial relief funds terrorism, not economic recovery.
Netanyahu's intervention adds another veto point. The Israeli prime minister has consistently opposed any deal that leaves Iran with enrichment capability. His Sunday statement made clear that "dismantling" enrichment sites — not merely limiting them — is Israel's red line.
Trump's reaffirmation of Israeli self-defense rights, including in Lebanon, suggests that military options remain on the table if diplomacy fails. The Lebanon dimension is not peripheral. Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have been a recurring source of tension in U.S.-Iran diplomacy.
Iran backs Hezbollah. Any comprehensive agreement would likely need to address the Lebanon front, either through explicit terms or quiet understandings. gasoline prices and injected sustained volatility into global crude markets. A prolonged blockade risks recessionary pressure in energy-importing economies across Europe and Asia.
The deal's terms — particularly on nuclear enrichment and asset unfreezing — will determine whether the outcome constrains Iran's weapons capability or, as critics warn, funds it. Global oil markets are watching the pace of negotiations. Brent crude settled at $87.33 on Friday, up 14% from pre-conflict levels.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated that a resolution within two weeks could push prices below $80. A breakdown could send them past $100. Key takeaways: - Trump ordered negotiators to slow the pace, keeping the naval blockade in place as leverage. - Pompeo, Cruz, and Netanyahu have drawn red lines: no money to the IRGC, no enrichment capability left intact. - Israeli strikes in Lebanon remain an unresolved variable inside the broader negotiation.
What comes next is a waiting game with defined pressure points. Iran's economic pain deepens by roughly $70 million daily. Netanyahu's demands for dismantling enrichment sites set a bar that Tehran has never accepted in any previous negotiation.
The internal Republican opposition, led by Pompeo and Cruz, will intensify if the deal's terms leak before a final agreement is reached. Trump's instruction to slow-walk suggests he is willing to absorb that political heat — for now. Watch for whether the pace changes if gasoline prices spike again before the summer driving season peaks in July.
Key Takeaways
— - Trump ordered negotiators to slow the pace, keeping the naval blockade in place as leverage.
— - The emerging deal would open the strait, unfreeze Iranian assets, and commit to nuclear talks.
— - Pompeo, Cruz, and Netanyahu have drawn red lines: no money to the IRGC, no enrichment capability left intact.
— - Israeli strikes in Lebanon remain an unresolved variable inside the broader negotiation.
Source: CNBC
