The BLUF - August 18th

Good morning everyone,

This is Atlas, and you’re reading the Bottom Line Up Front, where we cover the top geopolitical stories from around the world every Tuesday!

Today’s topics:

• Oman Threatened With Bombs By U.S. Admin

• U.K. P.M. Duped By Imposter Posing As Chief Of Staff For Trump

• Chasm Still Remains Between Canada & U.S. Over 50% Tariff Negotiations

Oman Threatened With Bombs By U.S. Admin

_{By: Atlas}

President Donald Trump threatened Monday to bomb Oman if it "gets in the way" of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, directing his bluntest warning yet at a US partner that has spent weeks negotiating with Iran over the blockaded waterway — on the same day the 60-day memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran formally expired with no successor deal and no extension.

"If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s--- out of them," Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst. The network did not provide audio of the exchange.

Trump also said Iran should "put up the white flag of surrender," confirmed the administration has opened a direct back channel with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and described the Iranians as "good poker players" who are "dying." He insisted he faces no deadline pressure: "I have no time schedule. I'm not in a hurry." Asked whether November's midterm elections factor into his approach, he said, "Midterms have nothing to do with my thinking."

Pressed later in the Oval Office on whether he had run out of patience with Oman, Trump softened only slightly. "I don't think they've behaved very well, but we'd handle them very easily, just like we do others," he said. He repeated that US control of the strait is a "great idea," claiming Washington already controls it "with the blockade," and adding, "I like the idea of declaring it a territory."

It was not the president's first threat against the sultanate. In May, he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that "Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up."

A Deal Expires With Both Sides Where They Started

Monday marked 60 days since the June 17 signing of the memorandum of understanding that declared an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts" and committed both countries to negotiate a final deal — covering issues including Iran's nuclear program — within 60 days, extendable by mutual consent. The truce unraveled within weeks: Trump declared it "over" on July 7 amid renewed strikes, and Iran's Foreign Ministry pronounced it "suspended" days later.

Asked directly whether the US would seek an extension, Trump shook his head and mouthed "no." He told reporters Iran wants an agreement but "they're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon." He pressed the same point on Truth Social: "The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon."

Trump also waved off concerns that nearly six months of war have thinned US munitions stockpiles. "What we've used is peanuts," he said. "We have a lot of mid-level weapons."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on both countries to resume negotiations, saying there is no military solution to the conflict, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that the UN chief believes the parties need to "lower the rhetoric that we've been hearing in recent days."

The Iran-Oman Deal Drawing Trump's Fire

The irony of the threat is that the negotiations Trump attacked are aimed at precisely the outcome Washington demands: reopening the strait, which carried roughly 20% of the world's traded oil and liquefied natural gas before Iran closed it following the February 28 US-Israeli attacks.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran on Monday that "an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route" and that the two countries are finalizing details for a joint statement, packaging "the map plus a joint statement" together. Details that have emerged previously suggest ships would enter the strait through a route close to Iran and exit through a route close to Oman, transiting without fees or tolls during an interim period.

The US has sought an acceptable arrangement on reopening the strait before lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. Traffic through the waterway remained in single digits this week, and a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the strait late Monday with a crew casualty reported, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency. Gasoline in the US averaged $4.06 a gallon.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, campaigning in Virginia, offered a more conciliatory frame than the president, saying he believes the US is "in the process" of "resolving" the war. "There'll be a coalition of nations, a combination of allied NATO allies and Arab states in the region," he said. "Everybody in the world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being open for commerce."

Violence Ripples From the Red Sea to Kurdistan

The war's periphery stayed active. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis claimed they fired ballistic missiles at a ship and four military boats off the Yemeni city of Mocha near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, saying the vessels belonged to Saudi Arabia and had capsized or burned — claims not independently verified, with no immediate Saudi comment. The group also claimed a drone attack on government forces in Marib province.

In northern Iraq, drones launched from the border with Iran targeted the office of Kurdish regional Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the home of a senior regional intelligence official, the regional counterterrorism service said. No casualties were reported and no one claimed responsibility, but the direct strike on government buildings was unusual; Iranian-backed militias have generally aimed at US facilities and exiled Iranian Kurdish dissident groups. Barzani called it "a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability" of the region, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi appeared to distance Tehran, writing that nothing justified the attack and that "Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors." US forces in the Kurdish region have begun withdrawing ahead of a September 30 deadline to end the American military presence in Iraq.

The Lincoln, and the Home Front

Trump also dismissed reports of deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the carrier anchoring the blockade through a deployment now past 260 days, calling them "fake news" and insisting the ship is "beautifully maintained." He recounted a retired admiral telling him ships have "been out there much longer," and said Friday the Lincoln hasn't been deployed "nearly long enough." Democrats are demanding an investigation into morale aboard the vessel, and the US Central Command commander visited the carrier in recent days, calling mental health a priority.

The day's threats left the war where the expired memorandum found it: the strait closed, the blockade in place, the back channel open, and the president of the United States warning an ally negotiating the reopening that it could be bombed for its trouble.

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