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'Sounds a Lot Like a Nuclear Threat': Trump Floats 'Ultimate Alternative' If Iran Talks Collapse
Trump claimed on social media that a diplomatic agreement would be signed on Sunday, but Iran's Foreign Ministry pushed back on that timeline.
Jun 13, 2026
President Donald Trump claimed Saturday that the US and Iran are on track to sign a diplomatic agreement this weekend, but added that "we have the ultimate alternative" if the process doesn't "work out."
"The 'ultimate alternative' sounds a lot like a nuclear threat," Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, wrote in response to the president's Truth Social post. "Not the first time Trump has hinted at it."
The agreement Trump referenced is believed to be "memorandum of understanding" that's expected be fleshed out in "technical talks" that could begin next week, according to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is mediating the negotiations.
"We are closer to a peace deal than ever before," Sharif wrote on social media, echoing Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said on Friday that "the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer."
"Pending its finalization, the media should refrain from entering speculation about its content," Araghchi added. "In line with our responsible and transparent approach, all details will be shared with the public in due course."
On Saturday, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry cast doubt on the timeline put forth by Trump and Sharif.
"We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” said Esmaeil Baqaei, as reported by Iranian state media. “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out. However, due to the hesitation of the other side, we must be cautious in making any comments about this process.”
In his Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump declared that the Strait of Hormuz will be "OPEN TO ALL" immediately after the deal is signed—a condition that Iran has not confirmed.
"We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future," Trump added. "Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!"
Trump has repeatedly issued genocidal threats against Iran since launching the illegal war in late February, openly declaring his intention to target Iran's civilian infrastructure and wipe out its "whole civilization." Experts say such threats, even if they aren't acted on, constitute war crimes under international law.
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As SpaceX Goes Public, Iran Media Reports Musk Companies Are Legitimate Military Target
Iranian threats against SpaceX facilities came as the company had a record-breaking IPO.
Jun 11, 2026
While Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets have typically had no trouble exploding on their own accord, they could soon get some assistance from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tehran's state-run Fars News Agency reported on Thursday that Iranian officials have added assets owned by Musk throughout the Middle East to their target lists, noting the US and Israeli military's use of SpaceX's Starlink satellite services in operations against Iranian infrastructure.
As reported by Forbes, SpaceX has Starlink ground stations in Qatar, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, and Oman that could be potential targets of future Iranian attacks. However, the Starlink facilities may not be the only targets, as Iran reportedly said it "reserves the right to strike all Musk-affiliated facilities in the region," according to Forbes.
Iran's threats to attack SpaceX facilities came as the private space exploration firm made an initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday that the Wall Street Journal reported broke the record for the largest in history.
According to the Journal, SpaceX sold $75 billion worth of shares during the IPO at $135 apiece, giving the company a valuation of $1.77 trillion.
The SpaceX IPO has come under criticism in recent weeks over revelations that the Nasdaq stock market exchange changed its own rules so that company can be immediately included in index funds without having to wait through the one-year “seasoning” period that used to be required for newly public firms.
Other critics have raised red flags about SpaceX's profitability, noting that it made only $19 billion in profits last fiscal year, giving it a valuation 54 times larger than its projected revenue multiple, a measure of its value based on expected future earnings.
SpaceX shares are set to begin trading publicly on Friday.
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Trump Is Playing War Crime Roulette With the Livability of the Persian Gulf
If Iran felt its inhabitants were systematically being deprived of water due to US attacks, it could likely take out all the desalization plants in the territories of its Arab Gulf neighbors, without which none of those countries could survive more than three days.
Jun 11, 2026
In the midst of this week’s round of strikes and counterstrikes between the Trump administration and Iran, Iran’s IRIB News reported that on Tuesday the US had struck a reservoir and a water tank serving the inland town of Kuhestak as well as the port of Sirik on the Persian Gulf Coast.
Sirik is a small town of a few thousand inhabitants that serves as the capital for Sirik district of Hormozgan Province. It is not far from Bandar Abbas, the capital of the province. There is allegedly a base of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps at Sirik, which is likely why the town was targeted. (H/t to BBC Monitoring for some of these Iran media links.)
If, however, the strike on the water tanks was deliberate, it was a war crime. Iranian media alleged that it deprived 20,000 people of drinking water in 113°F (45°C) temperatures and 60% humidity. This affected men, women, and children. The reservoir held 70K cubic feet of water and the water tank 17K cubic feet. Drinking water was unavailable for 12 hours.
Fatemeh Jarareh, the female representative in parliament of Hormozgan Province, called the attack a “blatant war crime against humanity.” She accused what she called the “terrorist army” of the United States of deliberately targeting key infrastructure necessary to human life and livelihood.
Quite apart from the question of whether it is a war crime to hit civilian water facilities, it is a very dangerous move.
The government said that repair crews restored water transmission lines in 12 hours and said that over the following 24 hours drinking water would stabilize.
During the 39-day all-out war in March, Iran asserted that the US or Israelis had damaged a desalinization plant providing drinking water to residents. Bahrain likewise said that a desalinization plant providing water to 30 villages had been damaged by an Iranian drone.
Quite apart from the question of whether it is a war crime to hit civilian water facilities, it is a very dangerous move. If Iran felt its inhabitants were systematically being deprived of water, it could likely take out all the desalization plants in the territories of its Arab Gulf neighbors, without which none of those countries could survive more than three days. That is how long it takes for renal failure from lack of water to kick in and kill you; it is why rescue teams after an earthquake gradually stop searching in the rubble for survivors after 36 hours, since the likelihood of someone surviving longer than that without water is low.
Some 80% of water in the United Arab Emirates, a country of 11 million, comes from desalinization plants. Their total destruction would provoke a vast exodus of the population and raise questions about the survival of the country, where 88% of the residents are non-citizen migrant workers and expatriates. In turn, the Emirates’ ability to export petroleum would be drastically impeded, hurting the whole world.
Hence, the Trump administration should think long and hard before hitting such civilian infrastructure in Iran. The whole Gulf region is full of glass houses, and if they are all shattered, the energy crisis would be unprecedented.
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