Trump: Iran memorandum ‘not final,’ we’ll be ‘back to dropping bombs on their heads’ if talks fail

US President Donald Trump reiterates that the memorandum of understanding with Iran is “not final” and warns that Washington could resume military strikes against Iran if “they don’t behave,” adding that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was unavoidable.

Referring to the preliminary agreement with Tehran expected to be physically signed on Friday, Trump reiterates that “it’s not final – it’s a memorandum of understanding,” and that Washington’s military threat remains in place.

“It’s a memorandum of understanding. If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, okay? Because they’ve misbehaved for 47 years,” he warns, speaking alongside Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the G7 summit in France.

Trump says the agreement is “a great deal for a lot of reasons, but number one by far — 99.9% of it — is that they will never have a nuclear weapon.”

“It’s a very strong deal. Nobody knows what it is, but it’s very strong, and most people seem to be very happy,” he adds, without specifying which people he’s referring to.

“The Strait [of Hormuz] is going to be opening. It’s already partially opened. It’s going to be opening up soon in full over the next day or two,” Trump says.

Despite Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports and earlier threats to use force to reopen the vital shipping lane, Trump suggests a negotiated arrangement on Hormuz was unavoidable: “The alternative would be a worldwide depression. You know, the stupid people want to have a worldwide depression, and they’re stupid people. So you can only go so far. You drive somebody into the ground, and a lot of bad things happen… the Strait would never open, because they don’t like floating billion-dollar ships up and down a strait when there are rockets flying over them and mines all over the place… It wouldn’t be open for a long time,” he says.

He adds that he will discuss the Iran deal more at a press conference at 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Israel time).