‘Won’t be anything left’: Trump issues warning to Iran after national security team meeting
By Alayna Treene, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump met with top members of his national security team over the weekend to discuss the path forward on the Iran war and is expected to meet again with the team early this week, a source familiar with the meeting told CNN.
A day after the weekend meeting, the US president issued a new warning to Iran, writing in a social media post on Sunday: “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! President DJT.”
Trump has grown increasingly impatient with how Tehran has been handling diplomatic negotiations and remains frustrated with the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on global oil prices. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday it had sent a response to US criticism of its previous plan to end the conflict; Trump had rejected the 14-point plan Iran sent more than a week ago, calling it “totally unacceptable.”
“We received a set of corrective points and considerations from the Pakistani mediator,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday. “Our points of view were presented to the American side in return. Therefore, the process continues through Pakistan,” he added, according to the state news agency IRNA, without providing further details.
On the US side, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and special envoy Steve Witkoff all attended the Saturday meeting at the president’s Virginia golf club, the source familiar said. The gathering occurred just hours after Trump arrived back in Washington from a high-stakes visit to China, a nation with close ties to Iran.
Trump and his team had held off on deciding how to proceed with Tehran during his visit to Beijing, with several administration officials telling CNN they wanted to see how the talks between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping played out before determining a path forward.
In recent days, Trump has more seriously considered resuming major combat operations in Iran as a way to force them to a compromise to end the war, CNN previously reported, despite his preference to settle the conflict diplomatically.
The Pentagon has prepared a series of military target plans should Trump ultimately decide to move forward with more strikes, sources familiar with the talks said, including targeted strikes on energy and infrastructure sites in Iran.
Axios first reported on Saturday’s meeting.
Trump also spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a spokesman for the prime minister and a US official told CNN.
On the Iranian side, there are no new indications that top officials are ready to back down. Iranian media reported Sunday that Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, had met with top Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian. Pakistan has acted as the primary mediator during the US-Iran peace talks.
During those meetings, Tehran officials said the United States’ presence in the Middle East was causing instability in the region. According to the Iran-linked Tasnim news agency, Pezeshkian said the US and Israel “have always tried to pit Islamic nations against one another through divisive projects and by fostering distrust” even as “Iran seeks sincere, stable relations based on good neighborliness with the region’s Islamic countries.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Tim Lister, Aida Karimi and Issy Ronald contributed to this report.
