OAN Staff Addie Davis and Brooke Mallory
1:50 PM – Monday, August 17, 2026
The 60-day window established under the mid-June Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran expired on Monday with both nations remaining far from a deal.
Signed two months ago to establish a negotiating timeframe for a final peace agreement, the MOU concludes without an accord in sight. Speaking to Fox News’ Trey Yingst, President Donald Trump responded by putting direct pressure on Iran to end the conflict.
“They should put up the white flag of surrender,” he said.
Trump said he felt “no hurry” and lacked a fixed timeline, relying on the U.S. naval blockade — and upcoming Treasury sanctions noted by Yingst — to apply economic pressure. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei dismissed the deadline entirely, telling the Tasnim News Agency that the 60-day window applied solely to nuclear talks, not the broader MOU.
“We did not start any negotiations at all, and the U.S. violated the understanding from the very beginning; therefore, the 60-day issue is not relevant,” he said, per the news outlet.
The U.S. Commander-in-Chief had also confirmed to Yingst that there was a back channel between Washington, D.C., and officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran. However, an Iranian spokesperson also denied the existence of this channel between the IRGC and the U.S. while speaking to Tasnim. Differing narratives out of Washington and Tehran have become a common trend during the conflict.
Speaking to Yingst, Trump also asserted that Iran was struggling internally — being forced to resort to strategic mind games.
“They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” the U.S. president said of the Iranians.
Despite concerns of a drawn-out conflict’s effect on the upcoming midterms, Trump responded that the elections were not a factor in his decision-making.
In alignment with consistent messaging, he reiterated the main priority of the conflict for the United States in an early morning Monday Truth Social post.
“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” he declared.
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