Trump defends Iran deal at G7, warns of renewed bombing

Donald Trump used his closing news conference at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains to cast the U.S.-Iran memorandum as a temporary opening, not a final settlement. He said the United States could resume bombing if a broader deal was not reached within 60 days, a warning that left the administration’s military leverage intact even as allies moved to endorse the agreement.

The president spoke on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, as the three-day summit in France drew to a close. Trump had arrived in France on Monday, June 15, after announcing an agreement he said would end the U.S. war with Iran. Senior U.S. officials have said Trump and Iran’s top negotiator already remotely signed the memorandum of understanding ahead of an expected signing ceremony on Friday, but the White House had not publicly released the full text when Trump faced reporters.

That missing text mattered because key questions remained unsettled. Reporting indicated that the discussions touched on the possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, access to long-frozen Iranian funds, and the wider mechanics of enforcing the deal. The State Department and other U.S. officials were also under pressure to explain what the memorandum would mean in practice if the 60-day clock expired and negotiations stalled.

G7 leaders appeared eager to keep the interim arrangement from collapsing, but they also broadened the diplomatic frame beyond Iran. According to the Associated Press, leaders backed Trump’s tentative agreement with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and extend a cease-fire. Reuters reporting said the group welcomed the interim Iran deal, demanded an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, and said it would diversify energy supply routes to reduce dependence on the Strait. The summit agenda also included Ukraine, artificial intelligence and energy security, underscoring how the Iran crisis was being folded into a wider discussion of global instability.

The result was a message with two tracks: a deal in motion, and force still explicitly on the table. Trump’s remarks clarified the timeline he wants Tehran to face, but they also left unanswered how much of the agreement has been locked in, how the frozen funds issue will be handled, and whether the cease-fire diplomacy around Lebanon can hold while Washington keeps bombing as an available option.