Trump To Pezeshkian: Keep Your Mouth Shut — And We'll Take The Strait Of Hormuz If We Have To

Even as Iranian negotiators landed in Switzerland Sunday for a new round of nuclear talks, President Donald Trump made clear he has not softened his posture toward Tehran, issuing what amounted to an existential threat against the Islamic Republic in a Fox News interview.

"If they don't make a deal, I'll blow them to pieces," Trump said. "We'll collect tolls and they won't have a country."

The remarks centered on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes. Trump suggested the United States could effectively take control of the strait, positioning itself as what he called its "guardian angel" and collecting approximately 20 percent of oil revenues passing through it. "If we have to --- we can take over the strait," he said.

According to Open Source Intel, after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would never relinquish its right to enrich uranium and insisted that Tehran's ballistic missile program was no longer a point of contention in negotiations, Trump took direct aim Pezeshkian, warning him to "keep his mouth shut" - a pointed personal rebuke that came even as diplomatic channels between the two countries remain nominally open.

The timing is notable. Iranian officials flew into Switzerland Sunday for what is being billed as a continuation of the indirect talks that have been progressing haltingly since earlier this year, mediated in part through Omani and European channels. The sight of the Iranian delegation's plane landing in Geneva, with a message written on the fuselage that Israeli and regional media flagged as a pointed piece of psychological messaging, underscored the dual-track nature of the current moment: negotiations proceeding on one level while threats escalate on another.

The Strait of Hormuz has been a recurring flashpoint throughout the U.S.-Iran standoff. Iran has periodically threatened to close the strait in response to American military and economic pressure, a move that would send global oil prices into freefall and constitute an act of economic warfare against the international community. Trump's suggestion that the U.S. could seize the waterway and monetize it would represent an extraordinary assertion of American military dominance over one of the world's most critical chokepoints.

Whether Sunday's comments represent a deliberate pressure tactic ahead of the Switzerland talks or reflect Trump's genuine posture remains the central question for analysts watching the negotiations. His administration has previously combined maximalist public rhetoric with pragmatic back-channel engagement, a pattern that has kept both allies and adversaries off balance throughout the current Iran crisis.