Iran said Monday that it was breaking off talks with the Trump administration to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz following an escalation of Israeli military action in Lebanon and renewed airstrikes around the Persian Gulf.

President Donald Trump, however, insisted that negotiations were ongoing. “Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote Monday in a social media post.

Iranian and U.S. negotiators had signaled progress on finalizing a memorandum of understanding last week, but the official said Monday that he was less hopeful of an imminent deal.

In addition to Israel’s strikes in Lebanon, the official said last-minute changes to the terms of the deal by U.S. negotiators over the weekend also frustrated progress. The official said U.S. negotiators had not informed their Iranian counterparts of the new deal terms.

Tehran’s decision to pull back from the talks follows a recent exchange of U.S. and Iranian attacks in the Persian Gulf region and highlights the difficulty Trump is facing in bringing an end to an unpopular war that has caused economic disruption, including spiking energy prices, worldwide.

U.S. military planners across several continents were on heightened alert for the potential expansion of hostilities, though preparations alone do not indicate strikes are imminent, according to people familiar with issue, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues.

U.S. military officials in Europe and Africa raised their force protection measures as a proactive step in case fighting resumes in earnest, the people said.

Trump has insisted that the United States dealt Iran a resounding military defeat and that he would be able to impose his top demands, including an end to Iran’s nuclear program and the containment of its stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran, however, has countered with its own steep demands, including the release of billions in frozen funds, and has shown a willingness to risk further American and Israeli military strikes, apparently counting on Trump’s reluctance to order a full resumption in hostilities.

A series of tit-for-tat attacks has threatened the talks in recent days.

The U.S. military said it struck Iranian radar and drone sites near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, prompting Iran to retaliate Monday with missile fire into Kuwait.

Hostilities also escalated in Lebanon, with civilians fleeing southern parts of Beirut after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday he had ordered new strikes on Hezbollah strongholds there.

U.S. Central Command said its most recent strikes, carried out in the coastal city of Goruk and on Qeshm Island, targeted Iranian air defenses, a ground control station and two attack drones that it said posed clear threats to ships in regional waters. Its strikes came after Iran shot down a U.S. drone operating over international waters.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched missiles from Khuzestan province in retaliation for what it said was a U.S. strike on a telecommunications tower on Sirik Island. The IRGC said that its targets “were destroyed” and warned that any repeated strike would draw a “completely different” response.

Kuwait’s military, posting Monday on X, said that it was “responding to hostile missile and drone threats” and that any sounds of explosions were the result of air defense systems intercepting Iranian attacks.

Iran said it had targeted a U.S.-linked air base.

Iran, which insisted that the Lebanon conflict be included in the original ceasefire in April after Israel initially continued military operations there, had warned again Monday that violations there threatened the large ceasefire agreement with Washington. (Source: The Washington Post)

Story Date: June 2, 2026