Trump insists Iran talks continue at ‘rapid pace’ after Iranian state media said they were suspended

President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran hasn’t yet informed the US it is cutting off talks, but suggested he had no problem waiting out Tehran until it agrees to an acceptable deal.

“I think we’ve been talking too much, if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good,” he told NBC News in a phone interview.

He said the development did not mean the US would restart full-scale military operations.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to go and start dropping bombs all over there,” he told NBC. “We’ll just go silent. We’ll keep the blockade. Blockade is a piece of steel.”

Trump, who has insisted he feels no pressure to reach a deal quickly, maintained he had leverage over Tehran.

“I think I can wait as long as they want,” he said.

Hezbollah supporters hold Hezbollah flags and portraits of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.

Despite its ceasefire with Lebanon, Israel has continued to strike what it has said are Hezbollah targets in the country during the truce, while the militant group has said it is attacking Israeli forces in response to continued attacks.

Last week, an Israeli source told CNN that the Israeli military is expanding its operations in Lebanon, including renewing strikes in the capital Beirut, to counter threats by the Iran-backed militant group.

Here’s what to know about Hezbollah:

Origins: Hezbollah emerged from the rubble of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli forces took almost half of Lebanon’s territory, including Beirut. Israel’s operation resulted in more than 17,000 deaths, according to contemporary reports and an Israeli inquiry into a massacre at the Beirut refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila, one of the bloodiest events in the region’s recent history.

Rise to prominence: A band of Shia Islamist fighters trained by Iran burst onto Lebanon’s fractious political landscape. Eventually, in 1985, militants coalesced more formally around a newly founded organization: Hezbollah. The group made no secret about its ideological allegiance to Tehran and received a steady flow of funds from the Islamic Republic. It became a participant in Lebanon’s civil war, which ended in 1990, and led a fight against Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon, ultimately driving them out in 2000.

Terror designation: In Lebanon, Hezbollah is officially considered a “resistance” group tasked with confronting Israel, which Beirut classifies as an enemy state. Much of the Western world has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Battered condition today: Hezbollah, once seen as a potent deterrent against a direct confrontation with Iran, now appears barely a shadow of the force it once was. Battered by years of relentless Israeli assaults, it has seen its most senior leaders assassinated, its southern Lebanese strongholds overrun and its fearsome missile arsenal depleted.

CNN’s Eugenia Yosef and Tim Lister contributed to this reporting.

An Israeli tank takes position amid destroyed buildings in southern Lebanon, on May 31.

As Israel escalated its attacks in Lebanon over recent days, several Middle Eastern and European countries have condemned the military action, calling instead for diplomacy and an end to the bloodshed.

Israel says it has increased its strikes on Lebanon in response to ceasefire violations by Hezbollah, while the Iran-backed militant group has said it is attacking Israeli forces in response to continued Israeli attacks.

Here’s a round-up of some of the recent reaction:

CNN’s Eyad Kourdi and Sarah Tamimi contributed to this reporting.

Israel’s military is launching “targeted strikes” deeper into Lebanon, seeking to damage the capabilities of the Iran-backed para-military group Hezbollah, a spokesperson said.

“We are working to tighten the noose around Hezbollah’s capabilities and continue to deepen targeted strikes,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya said in a post on X on Monday.

She said the historic fortress of Shqif, or Beaufort Castle, which the IDF captured over the weekend, was of “major operational importance” in the campaign to weaken Hezbollah.

“It is considered a key Hezbollah hub,” she said, adding that more than 400 launches are believed to have originated from the southern Lebanon location since the war began.

The update followed the Israeli military’s evacuation order to residents of Dahieh, a southern suburb in the capital of Beirut, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of strikes on the neighborhood if Hezbollah continue to launch rockets into Israel.

Iran has since suspended all peace-focused communication with the United States over Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Iranian media has reported.

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed to this reporting.

The good news is that US gas prices have fallen surprisingly quickly in the past few weeks. The bad news is that relief at the pump may not last.

The national average for regular gas dropped by another two cents on Monday to $4.32 a gallon, according to AAA. That’s the lowest level since April 29.

While gas prices remain well above the pre-war level of $2.98 a gallon, there has been a significant drop since the recent peak of $4.56 on May 21.

The declines mostly reflect a recent plunge in oil futures as traders priced in a potential US-Iran deal that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

However, the gas price drop could prove to be short-lived.

Oil futures rose Monday after Iranian state media reported that Tehran has suspended talks with the United States in protest of Israel’s military action in Lebanon.

Even before Monday’s oil spike, analysts and oil industry executives were warning the energy system’s shock absorbers — vast stockpiles of oil and petroleum products — are disappearing fast.

RBC analyst Helima Croft argues the oil market has amnesia, marked by a “‘Memento’ mindset” among traders treating headlines about diplomatic progress as breaking news.

“Time is running out to reopen the strait and stave off a hard landing,” Croft wrote in a report to clients late last week.

In other words, while the financial market focuses on Truth Social posts about an imminent deal, the physical market is approaching critical levels.

Aftermath of an Israeli airstrike is seen in Tyre, Lebanon, on May 29.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) briefly suspended strikes on Lebanon after agreeing a ceasefire on April 16. However, it soon re-started attacks on what it said were Hezbollah targets, claiming they were “defensive operations” which were allowed under the US-brokered truce.

The number of attacks has been building over recent weeks.

In the week to May 31, the IDF carried out 514 waves of airstrikes in Lebanon, according to the Alma Research and Education Center, an independent non-profit specializing in security challenges on Israel’s northern border. That continued the upward trend from 328 waves of strikes the previous week, a 57% increase.

The Israeli military has struck the Lebanese capital, Beirut, twice since the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into force on April 16. The most recent strike occurred last Thursday.

The number of Hezbollah attacks against Israel and IDF forces have also been increasing. In the week to May 31, Hezbollah carried out 227 waves of attacks against Israel and IDF forces, according to Alma Research. That was a 41% increase on the previous week.

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah resumed attacks on Israel after the US and Israel began the war against Iran. Hezbollah is Iran’s most powerful regional proxy.

More than 3,400 people in Lebanon have been killed in the latest conflict, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Israel says 24 of its soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed over the same period on both sides of the border.

A previous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah had been in place since 27 November, and was mostly well observed by both sides.

A satellite image shows Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen, February 27, 2026.

Iran and its allies are considering the “activation of other fronts,” including the Bab al-Mandab strait, in response to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Iranian media reported Monday.

The closure of the strategic waterway could significantly disrupt global trade and further roil oil markets. Oil prices rose sharply after the news.

Bab al-Mandab is located at the southern end of the Red Sea and is a critical gateway to the Suez Canal, linking Europe and Asia through one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Just 29 kilometers (18 miles) across at its narrowest point, it is where ships have previously come under attack by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

In late 2023, Houthi militants began attacking commercial vessels passing through the strait in retaliation for Israel’s war in Gaza. The attacks prompted shipping companies to use a longer route, adding weeks onto journeys and forcing them to spend more on fuel, insurance, and seafarers’ wages.

Nearly 15% of global maritime trade passes Bab al-Mandab. The previous disruptions to shipping between 2023 and 2025 probably cost some $20 billion a year, according to industry estimates.

The strait has, however, remained largely navigable throughout the current war, preserving a critical export route for Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemen’s Houthis have yet to comment on the Iranian reports. But in March, Mohammed Mansour, deputy information minister in the Houthi rebel government, told CNN that closing Bab al-Mandab “is a viable option, and the consequences will be borne by the American and Israeli aggressors.”

Relatives react as mourners carry the coffins of Pierre Mouawad and his wife Flavia, during their funeral in Yahchouch, Lebanon, on April 7. The couple was killed in a reported Israeli strike in the town of Ain Saadeh on April 5.

At least 3,433 people have been killed and 10,395 have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese Health Ministry said in an update today.

Of that total, at least 21 were killed in the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry.

The Lebanese Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tolls. But it said on Saturday that at least 240 of those killed were children, 326 were women and an additional 127 were healthcare workers.

A US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon went into effect at midnight on April 17. That day, the total number of people killed by Israeli strikes in the country since March 2 was 2,294, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

More than 1,100 people have been killed since then, the ministry’s figures show.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has continued to strike what it has said are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon during the current truce, while the Lebanese Shiite militant group has said it is attacking Israeli forces in response to the IDF’s continued attacks.

A cargo vessel traveling through the northern Persian Gulf has been struck by an unknown projectile, according to a British military-run maritime security organization.

The incident occurred some 40 miles south-east of the port of Umm Qasr in Iraq, said the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO), which monitors incidents worldwide.

“A cargo vessel was transiting in the Arabian Gulf when a large explosion following a hit from an unknown projectile on the starboard side,” it added, referring to the water body that is also known as the Persian Gulf.

“UKMTO is unaware of any environmental impact at this time. Authorities are investigating,” it said.

In the three months to May 26, UKMTO said it had received 52 reports of incidents affecting vessels operating in and around the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. Of those, 28 were reports of attacks and 22 reports of suspicious activity.

The sporadic attacks on shipping in the Gulf have caused most companies to suspend operations in the region.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks at a meeting between Switzerland and Iran during a second round of US-Iranian nuclear talks in Geneva on February 17, 2026. The United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, 2026.

Now that Iranian state media has said Tehran has suspended talks with the US over Israel’s military action in Lebanon, questions are swirling about the next steps.

Iranian officials had previously used the negotiations to project confidence that they retain significant military options should diplomacy fail.

The country’s Revolutionary Guards said last month that any renewed conflict would spread “far beyond the region,” threatening “crushing blows” and “utter ruin” in places opponents “cannot even imagine.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also previously warned that any future retaliation would “feature many more surprises,” while Iran’s military threatened to open “new fronts” using “new tools.”

Should war resume, here are some ways Iran could respond:

Read more about potential ways Iran could escalate the war in our full article here.