Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iranian negotiators out of the United States after talks stalled, while President Trump said the Iran war could end right after the midterms and left open more strikes.
President Donald Trump said the conflict with Iran will end “right after” the U.S. midterm elections in November, and “maybe before,” as diplomatic efforts in New York collapsed and the Iranian team was told to go home.
Fox News reported that Rubio abruptly ended the talks and directed the Iranian delegation to leave after high-level meetings around the United Nations produced no breakthrough. An official confirmed the order to Fox News Digital. The Iranian foreign minister and his team departed early Tuesday.
Trump, in a Time interview cited in the same reporting, was asked whether he would ramp up bombing after the midterms. He answered with one word: “Possible.” He also said the United States has been rebuilding its arsenal.
“We have a lot of weapons. You know, we’ve been stocking up for the last six months,” Trump said.
The Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, had stayed in New York for indirect talks after the main U.N. meetings wrapped up. Qatari mediators shuttled messages over the weekend. Progress was thin.
Rubio told Araghchi and his team on Monday that they needed to leave. He concluded the Iranians had “overstayed their welcome.” Axios first reported the confrontation. Iran disputed the U.S. account and said the Monday-night departure had already been scheduled and communicated to the State Department on Sept. 17.
That firm line fits a broader pattern of tighter control at the department, including moves that pulled hundreds of thousands of visas under tougher national-security vetting.
Rubio said the United States remains open to negotiations. He also warned there “will be consequences” if Tehran fails to honor its commitments. The sides remain split over the order of any concessions. A seven-day confidence-building idea was discussed. A June framework that briefly halted fighting was floated for revival. Neither side locked anything in.
Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal over the weekend as “not good enough. Nearly.” He denied reports that he had offered sanctions relief or the release of frozen Iranian funds in exchange for movement on the nuclear file. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week, he said he would continue to make sure Iran cannot obtain nuclear weapons.
The conflict is already more than seven months old. Trump left open the chance of heavier strikes after voters go to the polls. When asked whether he might “annihilate Iran,” he again used the word “possible.”
That posture comes as Trump has concentrated national-security authority, including the step that made Rubio’s national security adviser role permanent and gave him a dual portfolio.
U.S. officials have treated the nuclear question as non-negotiable. Trump’s public timeline ties the end of the fighting to the midterms while refusing to rule out more force if Iran digs in. The weapons stockpile claim underlines preparation rather than improvisation.
Energy markets show why the standoff matters far beyond New York meeting rooms. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies moved through the Strait of Hormuz. Talks have included reopening that chokepoint after blockade pressure on oil and shipping.
Estimates cited by major banks put recent Middle East exports close to pre-war levels. Even so, prices remain elevated. Brent crude settled above $103 a barrel on Wednesday. U.S. crude closed above $90. The national average for regular gasoline sat near $4.43 a gallon, up from roughly $3.15 a year earlier. Diesel stood above $6.40 a gallon.
Those costs hit households and industry at the same time Washington pushes larger domestic production projects, such as the plan for a $15 billion Iowa steel plant framed as a major industrial expansion.
Recovering export volumes have not erased the risk premium. Any new round of strikes, or a longer closure threat in the strait, would feed straight into fuel prices and global supply calculations. Trump’s “possible” escalation window after the midterms therefore carries direct economic weight for American drivers and manufacturers.
The sequence is clear. Weekend mediation produced little. Trump rejected the Iranian offer. Rubio ended the New York stay and sent the delegation home. Trump then tied the war’s end to the midterm calendar and declined to take further military pressure off the table.
Executive pressure has been a recurring tool in this administration, from national-security moves to orders that tested boundaries with other branches. Here the pressure landed on Iran’s negotiators and on the calendar itself.
Rubio’s message mixed a door left open with an explicit warning. Trump’s message mixed a political timeline with a stocked arsenal and a one-word answer on more bombing. Iran leaves the United States without a deal and with the nuclear issue still unresolved on Washington’s terms.
American strength and clear deadlines beat endless process. Iran now has to decide whether “possible” is a risk it wants to run.
