Trump vows no troop withdrawal from Iran until peace deal: threatens to "totally destroy" Iran if talks fail
President Donald Trump has ruled out any withdrawal of the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops currently deployed in the Persian Gulf until a definitive peace accord ends the 100-day-old war with Iran, telling NBC News on Sunday that he sees no imminent danger to American forces. “I do not consider them to be in any peril,” Trump said in an interview broadcast the same day, adding that a full withdrawal would only follow a comprehensive settlement ending hostilities.
The remarks come as the conflict—launched by Trump on 28 February under the code-name Operation Epic Fury—enters its fourth month, with more than 7,000 fatalities, mass displacement across southern Iran and Iraq, and the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushing oil prices toward $120 a barrel. Iranian officials have privately indicated that the release of some $7 billion in frozen assets would help build the trust necessary for a lasting ceasefire, but Trump dismissed the idea, stating that sanctions relief would only be considered “after the ink is dry on a peace treaty.”
In parallel, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” Iran militarily and then enter the country to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure if negotiators fail to reach an agreement. “We will work together to destroy the uranium—if there is a deal,” he told Portuguese broadcaster Observador on Saturday. The White House has also floated using Iranian assets to compensate Gulf allies for war damage, a proposal that has strained relations with regional partners already frustrated by the prolonged stalemate.
Public discontent is rising in the United States, where polls show majority opposition to further military engagement. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both parties have begun drafting legislation that would cap troop levels in the region unless Congress authorises an extension. Meanwhile, Iranian negotiators continue to insist on a complete lifting of sanctions as a precondition for any talks, deepening the mutual mistrust that Petr Hladík, director of the Czech foreign ministry’s Middle East desk, calls “the single greatest obstacle to de-escalation.”
With neither side willing to concede key demands, diplomats privately warn that the fragile truce brokered in April could collapse within weeks, plunging the Gulf back into open conflict and further destabilising global energy markets.