Iran deal clock hits zero as Trump demands ‘white flag’ with new pressure campaign looming

The 60-day window for the United States and Iran to reach a final agreement expired Monday with no deal announced, as President Donald Trump hardened his rhetoric toward Tehran and his administration prepared what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described as an unprecedented new phase of economic pressure.

"They should put up the white flag of surrender," Trump told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst in a phone interview Monday.

Trump said he was in no rush to reach a deal and also confirmed a direct back channel with officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The June memorandum of understanding committed Washington and Tehran to negotiate a final deal within a maximum of 60 days, extendable by mutual consent.

Reuters reported Monday that the interim agreement quickly unraveled over a dispute involving control of the Strait of Hormuz .

Trump declared the pact "over" on July 7 and Tehran later said it was suspended.

The deadline now puts a central question at the heart of Trump’s Iran strategy: whether the United States can turn military and maritime pressure into political concessions by squeezing Tehran financially rather than escalating again on the battlefield.

Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the Strait of Hormuz, making the standoff a threat not only to Tehran but to global energy supplies and U.S. fuel prices.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN DEAL ‘LARGELY NEGOTIATED’ AS 84-DAY WAR NEARS POSSIBLE END "Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation of a country," Bessent told Newsmax on Aug.

13.

In comments provided to Fox News Digital on background, a Treasury spokesperson said, "Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," arguing that the campaign has constrained Tehran’s ability to generate and move revenue and pushed it further toward shadow-banking networks and cryptocurrency to evade sanctions .

Average Iranian oil loadings had fallen from 1.8 million barrels per day before the war to less than 500,000 barrels per day over the previous month, The Associated Press reported Aug.

11, citing Treasury figures.

AP also cited an IMF projection that Iran’s economy would contract 5.4%.