By The South Asia Times 

TEHRAN/WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has ruled out extending the fragile truce with Iran, declaring that Tehran must "put up the white flag of surrender" as the 60-day ceasefire period officially expired on Monday without a breakthrough.

Speaking to Fox News and later at the White House, Trump said he did not expect Iran to agree to the kind of deal he considered necessary and reiterated that preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained America's central demand.

"They're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary," Trump said Monday. "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And they won't have a nuclear weapon".

Asked whether Washington wanted to extend the interim agreement, Trump replied bluntly: "No" . He also confirmed that his administration had opened a direct backchannel with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, describing its members as "good poker players" who were "dying".

In a separate statement, Trump threatened Oman over its efforts to mediate the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global oil supplies that Iran has blockaded. "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s*** out of them," he said.

The announcement came as Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadeq revealed the extent of damage inflicted on the country during the US-Israeli war of aggression. Speaking at a press conference in Tehran, Sadeq said Iran lost 100 aircraft during the conflict.

Sadeq said US and Israeli forces attacked 400 cities across 25 Iranian provinces, damaging approximately 100,000 commercial and residential units during what she described as the "second and third wars of aggression" against Iran.

She added that attacks targeted airports as well as electricity and water facilities, while also seeking to undermine the resilience of the Iranian people.

Despite the losses, Sadeq said Iran Air nevertheless operated Hajj flights during the conflict with eight aircraft and that rail, road, and port services continued throughout the war.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had set a period of "a few weeks" for Washington to fully implement the memorandum before further negotiations could take place.

"Within the short period of a few weeks set by Iran, all the agreement's provisions must be implemented by the US. This is a precondition for further negotiations with the US," the official said.

The official added that Iran had adopted a "fully offensive" posture and would be prepared to escalate in the Strait of Hormuz and across the region if diplomacy failed.

The 60-day period associated with the Iran-US interim peace deal ended Monday without a breakthrough. Tehran disputed the characterization of the date as a deadline, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei saying the memorandum contained no formal 60-day deadline and that Iran would not make decisions in response to ultimatums or pressure.

Baghaei said the period had been intended for negotiations but was no longer relevant because Washington had breached the agreement "just a few weeks after it was signed".

The United States and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on February 28, 2026, triggering a conflict that has now entered its sixth month. A US Congressional report earlier estimated that American forces lost at least 42 aircraft during the conflict.