Administration

Former Trump adviser on president’s latest Iran threat: ‘Not going to get a deal’

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by Sophia Vento - 04/05/26 11:46 AM ET

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by Sophia Vento - 04/05/26 11:46 AM ET

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Brett McGurk, who served under President Trump during his first term, warned that the president’s latest threats against Iran will not bring Tehran to the table to negotiate opening the Strait of Hormuz.

“This is an escalate to try to get a deal that’s not going to get a deal,” McGurk, who also served in national security roles under former Presidents Biden, Obama and Bush, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” later noting that the president “is just kind of shifting objectives in terms of what exactly we’re trying to achieve here.”

Earlier Sunday, Trump threatened to target Iranian civilian infrastructure in a profanity-filled Truth Social post ahead of a self-imposed Monday deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump wrote on social media.

The vital waterway, which has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February, has become a key issue as global oil prices spike.

U.S. allies have expressed frustration with the war in Iran, particularly about what they view as a lack of preparation to keep the Strait open. Trump, in a Wednesday address to the nation, said that the Strait would reopen when the conflict ends.

But Trump on Sunday morning told Fox News’s Trey Yingst that he believes the U.S. will be able to hammer out a deal to reopen the vital shipping route on Monday. The president told Fox that Tehran and Washington were engaged in talks Sunday.

McGurk, who has been critical of Trump and the conflict, said that these negotiations are particularly difficult given their secretive nature.

“I mean, with diplomacy, with Iran, a lot of it is secret back channel, because they publicly posture [and the way] we publicly posture makes it very hard to actually, I think, achieve what he’s trying to achieve,” McGurk told Tapper, adding that “for this to conclude with Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz, Jake, I think would be a very bad outcome.”

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