Trump says US forces to stay near Iran, ready for ‘next conquest’ 

United States President Donald Trump has warned that US forces will remain deployed around Iran and threatened overwhelming military action if Tehran fails to meet Washington’s demands, casting doubt over a fragile ceasefire.

Writing on social media late on Wednesday, Trump said US troops, aircraft and naval forces would stay in position until what he described as the “REAL AGREEMENT” is fully implemented.

“All US ships, aircraft, and military personnel … will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If for any reason it is not … the ‘Shootin’ Starts,′ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”

The remarks came just a day after a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, brokered by Pakistan, paused six weeks of fighting and briefly calmed global markets worried about disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Yet Trump’s language underscored how quickly the truce could unravel. He reiterated US demands that Iran abandon any nuclear weapons ambitions and ensure safe passage through the vital shipping lane, while boasting that US forces were “Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest”.

Meanwhile, in Iran on Thursday, the semiofficial ISNA and Tasnim news agencies published a chart suggesting the country’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.

The chart showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships take through the strait. The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war. It was dated from February 28 until April 9, and it was unclear if the IRGC had cleared any mining on the route since then.

‘A ceasefire has no meaning at all’

On the ground in Iran, scepticism runs deep.

Many Iranians in Tehran have questioned whether diplomacy can survive under the shadow of continued US threats and Israel’s ongoing military campaign across the region.

“If even one day passes without killing and bloodshed, that would be very good. It would make us happy. I swear to God, when I saw all this killing, I was so upset, I couldn’t even stay in my own home,” one woman told Al Jazeera.

Another man dismissed the truce outright, pointing to Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon.

“A ceasefire has no meaning at all when our martyred leader has not even been buried yet, and when the rules of war are still being violated.”

A third resident was even more blunt: “It’s all a theatrical show that Trump is playing. We have no belief in this ceasefire.”

The ceasefire itself remains riddled with contradictions.

Tehran has rejected a sweeping US proposal and instead tabled its own demands, including an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the lifting of sanctions – conditions Washington has not accepted.

US-Iran talks in Pakistan

Despite the uncertainty, Iranian officials appeared to confirm that a delegation would travel to Islamabad for talks with US representatives in the coming days.

Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, ⁠Reza Amiri Moghadam, said in a post on X on Thursday that a “delegation arrives tonight in Islamabad for serious talks ⁠based on 10 points proposed by Iran”. However, he later deleted the post.

The development came as authorities in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday declared two days of local holidays at short notice, without stating a reason.

Israel has already moved to undermine the truce’s credibility. While appearing to back Washington’s pause in direct strikes on Iran, it has intensified its assault on Lebanon, launching some of its deadliest attacks since February and killing at least 182 people in a single day.

The escalation has prompted warnings from Tehran that continuing negotiations under such conditions may be “unreasonable”.

Meanwhile, in the US, opposition to the war is growing. Senator Cory Booker said Democrats would seek to force a vote under the War Powers Resolution to curb what he described as unauthorised military action.

“Trump’s unauthorised military actions and reckless war-mongering must stop,” Booker said.

“The American people do not want and have not authorised [this war], but nonetheless keep paying the price.”