US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States will never permit Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Trump used the White House state dinner with King Charles III to deliver the pointed message to Iran, invoking the British monarch's apparent agreement with his position.
Speaking from the podium at the formal dinner, Trump referenced ongoing Middle East operations before stating, "We're doing a little Middle East work right now. We have militarily defeated that particular opponent, and we're never going to let that opponent ever — Charles agrees with me even more than I do — we're never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "They know that. And they've known it right now very powerfully."
The comments came at a fraught moment in US-Iran diplomacy. Tehran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — which it has effectively closed to shipping — on the condition that the US lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports and agrees to end the war, while setting aside the nuclear question for later negotiations.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed any proposal that did not centre Iran's nuclear capabilities, warning that Iran's negotiators were "very good" and seeking to buy time. "We can't let them get away with it," he said.
Trump had already cancelled plans for envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to meet Iranian counterparts in Pakistan, writing on Truth Social that there was "too much time wasted on travelling." A US-Iran ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan on April 8, remains in effect after Trump unilaterally extended it.
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Mediators in Pakistan now expect Iran to submit a revised proposal in the coming days. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil flows in peacetime, remains closed — the central battleground of a conflict with no diplomatic resolution in sight.
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