President Trump told Fox News he is prepared to order airstrikes against Oman if the Gulf nation interferes with American efforts to end the Iran crisis, a threat that has already drawn a Democratic push for a new war powers resolution.

Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported Monday that Trump, in a telephone interview, said of Oman: "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s*** out of them." Yingst did not publish an audio recording of the call. The remark landed on the same day a 60-day ceasefire between the United States and Iran expired, reopening questions about who controls traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a massive share of the world's oil supply passes.

Trump's comments were not improvised bluster from out of nowhere. They followed weeks of mounting frustration with Oman, a small Gulf state that has positioned itself as a neutral go-between in U.S.-Iran diplomacy while simultaneously negotiating a bilateral deal with Tehran to assert joint control over the strait. That dual role, mediator and partner to Iran, appears to have exhausted Trump's patience.

Oman played both sides, and Trump called it out in May

The president first put Oman on notice at a Cabinet meeting on May 27. His language then was blunt. The New York Post reported Trump's warning at that meeting:

"It's international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow them up. They understand that. They'll be fine."

At the same meeting, Trump laid out his position on the strait itself:

"The strait is going to be open to everybody. Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it. But nobody's going to control it."

The State Department amplified Trump's warning by posting a video of his remarks, signaling the threat carried the weight of official U.S. policy, not just off-the-cuff talk.

Iran and Oman ignored the warning. In June, their foreign ministries issued a joint statement announcing the formation of a "Strait of Hormuz Committee." Its stated purpose: drawing up plans for "future management of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the associated services to be provided, and the fees for the services." In plain English, Iran and Oman proposed to act as toll collectors on one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.

The tensions between Washington and Tehran have extended well beyond the negotiating table. Iran has targeted the Trump family directly, including through propaganda aimed at the president's wife and youngest son, a pattern of escalation that underscores the regime's hostility.

Iran says the ceasefire deal is already void

Also in June, the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that included a 60-day window for formal negotiations to begin. That window expired Monday. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei used the occasion to declare the deal effectively hollow:

"We did not begin any negotiations because, a few weeks after the signing, widespread violations of the agreement began, thereby rendering the 60-day provision irrelevant."

Baqaei did not specify what "widespread violations" Iran alleges the United States committed. He went further, stating that Iran has already reached an "agreement in principle" with Oman for joint control of the strait, with a formal joint statement described as forthcoming. In other words, Iran's position is that the U.S. deal is dead and the Oman partnership is alive.

Western intelligence agencies have repeatedly flagged Iran's aggressive posture toward the United States, including warnings of assassination plots against Trump during his overseas travel.

Trump, for his part, claimed during the Yingst interview that the United States maintains a "direct backchannel" to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He offered no details on who manages the channel or how it operates. Iran's foreign ministry flatly denied any ongoing communication with Washington.

Trump frames the standoff on his own terms

The president's Monday remarks suggest he views the situation through a simple lens: Iran's economy is crumbling under a U.S. blockade, and Tehran is stalling for time. Trump told Yingst that Iran must "put up the white flag of surrender" to end the crisis. He dismissed the idea that domestic politics, specifically the approaching November midterm elections, factored into his calculus.

"I have no time schedule. I'm not in a hurry."

He added:

"The midterms have nothing to do with my thinking."

Trump characterized the Iranian regime as skilled negotiators running out of room to maneuver:

"They're good poker players, but they're dying."

On Truth Social Monday morning, Trump restated his primary red line: "The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon." That post preceded the Yingst interview and set the frame for the day's escalation. The Washington Examiner noted that Trump has also floated the idea of declaring the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory, a claim that would represent a dramatic assertion of American control over the waterway.

Iran's provocations have not been limited to diplomacy. The regime fired missiles at U.S. bases in Jordan earlier in the conflict, drawing a vow of forceful retaliation from Trump.

Democrats reach for the war powers playbook

Trump's Oman threat drew immediate pushback from congressional Democrats. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia announced he will introduce a war powers resolution when the Senate returns to session next month, Just The News reported. Kaine called Trump's threat "deranged" and said he hopes Republicans will join him to "check this blindly stumbling power-drunk President."

War powers resolutions filed by Democrats against Trump's Iran-related military posture have been largely symbolic. They serve as protest votes rather than binding constraints on presidential authority. The White House pushed back through spokesperson Anna Kelly, who framed Trump's approach as necessary resolve:

"Only President Trump, however, has possessed the courage to take this national security threat head-on."

The security environment around Trump himself has reflected the stakes. The president abandoned the new Air Force One during a visit to Turkey earlier in the conflict, opting for an older, battle-tested aircraft amid direct Iranian threats.

Oman's gamble grows more dangerous by the day

The core dispute is straightforward. Iran wants to monetize and co-manage the Strait of Hormuz, a body of water the United States considers international. Oman, which shares the strait's southern shore with Iran's northern coast, has been willing to entertain that arrangement, even as it presents itself to Washington as a helpful intermediary. The proposed scheme would route outbound Persian Gulf shipping traffic along the Omani coast, with both nations collecting fees for "services" rendered.

Trump has made clear, twice now, in public, on the record, that the United States will not tolerate any nation asserting control over the strait or charging tolls on international shipping. The question is whether Oman and Iran believe the threat, or whether Tehran is betting that domestic political pressure will force Trump to back down before November.

Several critical questions remain unanswered. No audio of the Yingst interview has surfaced. The full terms of the expired U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding have not been made public. Iran has not detailed the alleged American violations it claims voided the agreement. And the contents of the forthcoming Iran-Oman joint statement on their "agreement in principle" remain unknown.

What is clear is that the 60-day ceasefire window has closed, Iran says it has no interest in talking, and Oman is pressing ahead with a deal that puts it squarely in the crosshairs of American military threats. The diplomatic off-ramps are narrowing.

When a president tells you twice, once at a Cabinet meeting and once on camera, that he will use force, the prudent move is to take him at his word.