{"id":12947,"date":"2026-05-18T17:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/18\/us-official-said-to-warn-of-conversation-through-bombs-as-iran-claims-us-concession-on-oil-the-times-of-israel\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:36:12","slug":"us-official-said-to-warn-of-conversation-through-bombs-as-iran-claims-us-concession-on-oil-the-times-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/18\/us-official-said-to-warn-of-conversation-through-bombs-as-iran-claims-us-concession-on-oil-the-times-of-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"US official said to warn of \u2018conversation through bombs\u2019 as Iran claims US concession on oil – The Times of Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Tensions between Iran and the US remained high on Monday, with a US official reportedly calling Iran\u2019s latest counterproposal for permanently ending the war insufficient and saying negotiations were \u201cnot making a lot of progress.\u201d The official said that if Iran were not more responsive, there would have to be a \u201cconversation through bombs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iranian media reports had, earlier, described Washington\u2019s demands as \u201cexcessive.\u201d But later on Monday, the country\u2019s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that US President Donald Trump committed to freezing sanctions on Iranian oil during ongoing nuclear talks.<\/p>\n

If true, that would represent a new concession by the US. The US Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control would issue waivers while negotiations continue, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Separately, a senior Iranian source told Reuters that Washington has also shown flexibility on allowing Iran to maintain limited peaceful nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth came amid reports<\/a> that Israel and the US were preparing for the possibility of renewing strikes on Iran, and a day after Trump warned that the \u201cclock is ticking\u201d for Tehran to agree to a deal, \u201cor there won\u2019t be anything left of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition<\/span> \t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories<\/span> \t\t<\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a> \t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Iran to meet various ultimatums and then backed off. A New York Times\/Siena poll<\/a> published on Monday found that the war was unpopular among voters and dragging down his popularity ahead of this year\u2019s US midterm elections, with his approval rating sinking to 37 percent.<\/p>\n

Two Middle East officials told<\/a> the New York Times that the United States and Israel \u201care engaged in intense preparations, the largest since the ceasefire took effect,\u201d for a possible renewal of attacks on Iran this week.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene a small group of senior ministers and aides Monday evening for a security discussion, the office of one of the ministers told The Times of Israel, after a similar discussion Sunday night.<\/p>\n

The US official told Axios that the fact that Iran submitted a counterproposal was a good sign, but that war could resume if talks remained stalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for the Iranians to throw bit of candy out,\u201d the official reportedly said. \u201cWe need some real, sturdy, and granular conversation [regarding the nuclear program]. If that\u2019s not gonna happen, we will have a conversation through bombs, which will be a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting on May 17, 2026. (Screenshot\/GPO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In previous terms<\/a> for a deal dismissed by Trump, Iran had refused to relinquish its stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium, and insisted on the \u201cright\u201d to enrichment. It denies seeking nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to levels with no civilian application.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we announced yesterday, our concerns were conveyed to the American side,\u201d Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a press briefing Monday.<\/p>\n

Exchanges are \u201ccontinuing through the Pakistani mediator,\u201d he said, without providing details.<\/p>\n

Baghaei defended Iran\u2019s demands, including the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad and the lifting of long-standing sanctions. \u201cThe points raised are Iranian demands that have been firmly defended by the Iranian negotiating team in every round of negotiations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also defended an Iranian stipulation that the US pay war reparations, describing the conflict as \u201cillegal and baseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Iran\u2019s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, right, shakes hands with Pakistan\u2019s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2026. (Hamed Malekpour\/ICANA via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the possibility of another military confrontation, Baghaei said Iran is \u201cfully prepared for any eventuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Iran\u2019s Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list, which included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States. The US had refused to release \u201ceven 25 percent\u201d of Iran\u2019s frozen assets or pay any reparations for war damage, according to Fars.<\/p>\n

The report said the US had also made clear it would only cease hostilities when Tehran engages in formal peace negotiations.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Mehr news agency said, \u201cThe United States, offering no tangible concessions, wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations.\u201d It described the US conditions as \u201cexcessive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an earlier proposal, which was sent last week, Iran had called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Israel\u2019s campaign in Lebanon, as well as a halt to a US naval blockade on Iranian ports in place since April 13. It also called for the lifting of all US sanctions on Iran and the release of its assets frozen abroad.<\/p>\n

Fars said the Iranian proposal had emphasized that Tehran would continue to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit Iran has largely kept closed since the start of the war with the US and Israel on February 28. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.<\/p>\n

Iran announces new body to manage Hormuz<\/h3>\n

Also on Monday, Iran\u2019s top security authority announced the formation of a new body to manage the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran wants to charge ships to traverse.<\/p>\n

On its official X account, the Supreme National Security Council shared a post for the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), saying it would provide \u201creal\u2011time updates on the #Hormuz_Strait operations and latest developments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The account of the Revolutionary Guards navy shared the same post.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what the new body would do, but earlier this month Iranian English-speaking broadcaster Press TV said it constituted a \u201csystem to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz\u201d and that ships passing through the strait were sent \u201cregulations\u201d from Iranian authorities via email.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman\u2019s northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026. (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iran\u2019s grip over the waterway has rattled global markets and given Tehran significant leverage, while the United States has imposed its own naval blockade on Iranian ports. In peacetime, the route accounts for roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, along with other key commodities including fertilizer.<\/p>\n

As the strait remains largely closed, Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said Monday that commercial oil inventories are depleting rapidly, with only a few weeks\u2019 supply left.<\/p>\n

Birol also said at the G7 meeting in Paris that the release of strategic oil reserves had added 2.5 million barrels of oil per day to the market, but that these reserves are not limitless.<\/p>\n

Since the war began, Iran has repeatedly said that maritime traffic through the strait would \u201cnot return to its pre-war status\u201d and last month it said it had received the first revenue from tolls on the waterway.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament\u2019s national security commission, said Iran \u201chas prepared a professional mechanism to manage traffic\u201d through the strait, adding that it will be \u201cunveiled soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman\u2019s northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026. (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iran warns Gulf countries against ties with Israel<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, in the wake of Israeli claims<\/a> that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials visited the United Arab Emirates during the war, Iran warned \u201csome countries in the region\u201d against cooperation with the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that there have been many exchanges between the Zionist regime and some countries in the region is not hidden from our view,\u201d said Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe countries of the region, including the UAE, should learn from what happened in the last two or three months,\u201d he said, adding that the contacts \u201chave emboldened the Zionists in committing crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UAE has denied that any such visit occurred.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) gives a statement, May 13, 2026. (Maayan Toaf\/GPO); Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, arrives at the Dubai Air Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, November 17, 2025. (AP Photo\/ Fatima Shbair)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey saw that the military presence of the US and the Zionist regime in the region does not bring security, it brings insecurity for all countries in the region,\u201d Baghaei said.<\/p>\n

Arguing that the prosperity of Middle Eastern countries is harmed by cooperation with the US and Israel, Baghaei called on them \u201cto take control of their own land. They have made their resources available to the aggressors.\u201d He insisted that Iran has \u201cno enmity with any of the countries in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are and will be permanent neighbors with all countries in the region, including the UAE,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The UAE has been the country most targeted by Iran since the outbreak of war on February 28. On Sunday, a drone strike<\/a> targeted the UAE\u2019s sole nuclear power plant, sparking a fire.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tensions between Iran and the US remained high on Monday, with a US official reportedly calling Iran\u2019s latest counterproposal for permanently ending the war insufficient and saying negotiations were \u201cnot making a lot of progress.\u201d The official said that if Iran were not more responsive, there would have to be a \u201cconversation through bombs.\u201d Iranian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}