Iran threatens ‘long and painful strikes’ after Trump briefed on ‘final blow’ options

James C. ReynoldsFri, May 1, 2026 at 9:38 AM UTC

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Iran has threatened “long and painful strikes” on US footholds in the Middle East if Donald Trump renews attacks in a bid to pressure the regime into further peace talks.

With the Strait of Hormuz still constricted by Iran, the US president was expected to receive a briefing on new options including fresh strikes and a limited deployment of American troops, reports said.

Hints at Washington renewing bombing spurred oil prices past $125 per barrel at one point, before falling back to $105 on Friday morning.

A senior official of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that any new US attack on Iran, even if limited, would usher in "long and painful strikes" on US regional positions.

With the US still imposing a blockade on Iranian trade, Aerospace Force Commander Majid Mousavi added: “We've seen what happened to your regional bases, we will see the same thing happen to your warships.”

Air defence activity was heard in some areas of Tehran late on Thursday, according to local media. The Tasnim news agency reported that defences were engaging small drones and surveillance UAVs.

Donald Trump, pictured on Thursday has claimed the US has already won the war (Getty)

Trump reiterated to reporters meanwhile that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and that the price of gasoline would "drop like a rock" as soon as the war ended.

The president reigned in the rhetoric against Iran on his Truth Social platform, instead taking aim at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said earlier this week Iran was “humiliating” the US by dragging envoys out for futile peace talks, amid a widening rift between Washington and its European allies.

Trump hit back that Merz “should spend more time ... fixing his broken Country” instead of “interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat”.

Efforts to resolve the conflict have hit an impasse, as Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz in spite of the ceasefire in place since 8 April.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday evening that it was not reasonable to expect quick results from US talks, according to the official IRNA news agency.

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“Expecting to reach a result in a short time, regardless of who the mediator is, in my opinion, is not very realistic,” he was quoted as saying.

British Armed Forces prepare to land at a British military base in an undisclosed location in the Middle East, on 23 April (PA)

Axios reported that Trump had nonetheless been briefed on new options to pressure Iran into making a deal, including using ground forces to take over part of the strait to reopen it to commercial shipping. Trump is also considering extending the US blockade or declaring a unilateral victory, officials have said.

During an interview with Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren, the president declared that the US had achieved victory, but said he wanted to win by a “bigger margin”.

“We’ve already won, but I want to win by a bigger margin,” he said. “But we have. We have destroyed their navy, destroyed their air force, destroyed all of their — if you look at their anti-aircraft equipment, their radar equipment, their leadership, their leadership is destroyed.”

But in a sign the US was also envisaging a scenario where hostilities cease, a State Department cable due to be delivered to partner nations invited them to ‌join a new coalition, called the Maritime Freedom Construct, to enable ships to navigate the strait.

Trump faces a formal US deadline on Friday to end the war or make the case to Congress for extending it under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

The date looks set to pass without altering the course of the conflict after a senior administration official said late on Thursday that, for the purposes of the resolution, hostilities had terminated due to the April ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026 (Reuters)

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei remained defiant, saying in a written message to Iranians that Tehran would eliminate “the enemies' abuses of the waterway” under new management of the strait, indicating that Tehran intended to maintain its hold over it.

“Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometres away ... have no place there except at the bottom of its waters,” he said.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned that if the disruption in the strait dragged on through mid-year, global growth would fall, inflation would rise and tens of millions more people would be pushed into poverty and extreme hunger.

“The longer this vital artery is choked, the harder it will be to reverse the damage,” he told reporters in New York.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”