President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday, May 14, 2026, to reach a deal or face “annihilation,” saying his patience with Tehran was running out and that the United States may have to resume military operations against the Islamic Republic if a negotiated settlement remains out of reach. The warning came as Trump concluded his two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and as the U.S.-led blockade of the Strait of Hormuz entered its eleventh week.
Trump made the “annihilation” remark in remarks to reporters, telling Fox News that “we may have to do a little cleanup work because we had a month-long ceasefire.” The comment reflects a return to the harder posture Trump took before the April 7 emergency ceasefire that he announced less than two hours before his deadline for Iran to reopen the strait. That earlier deadline came with Trump warning a “civilization will die tonight” if no deal was reached.
Politico has reported that the administration is offering Iran a 20-year verified moratorium on its nuclear program and the surrender of all highly enriched uranium (HEU), along with free commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, as the conditions under which the United States would consider hostilities ended. The 20-year moratorium represents a notable shift for Trump, who had previously insisted Iran never be allowed to enrich uranium under any timeline.
Pakistan has emerged as the principal intermediary in the talks. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif worked with U.S. officials before the April ceasefire to construct a framework that both Tehran and Washington could publicly accept. Reporting from Trump and from outlets including Hot Air indicates the 20-year framework may have originated as a Pakistani-backed proposal designed to bring Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the negotiating table on the nuclear-weapons question at all.
China’s role at the summit was carefully calibrated. According to Trump, Xi told him China would help diplomatically — or directly with its own personnel — in extracting any agreed-upon highly enriched uranium from Iranian territory. But Beijing’s public readout of the summit did not mention Iran by name, signaling China’s preference to support the process without becoming visibly entangled in U.S. enforcement against a major Chinese trading partner.
The market backdrop is unforgiving. The EIA’s May Short-Term Energy Outlook released May 12 assesses that Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain collectively shut in 10.5 million barrels per day of crude oil production in April, with shut-ins expected to peak near 10.8 million bpd in May as storage limits force additional producer cutbacks. Saudi Arabia informed OPEC that its output had fallen to the lowest level since 1990.
Whether Iran will accept the 20-year framework remains the central question of the next several weeks. Reports of approximately 30 vessels transiting Hormuz in recent days, including transit allowances for some Chinese ships, suggest Iran is calibrating rather than completely closing the strait. Whether that calibration leads to a settlement, or to renewed U.S. military action, will be visible in the days ahead. For continuing coverage, see our geopolitics dashboard.