US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran, saying "time is running out" and urging Tehran to quickly reach an agreement or risk losing everything, amid stalled peace talks and rising tensions. Trump posted messages on his social media platform Truth Social stressing the urgency to act swiftly against Iran [1, 2, 3].
On May 17, Trump held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss possibly resuming military strikes against Iran. Trump is also expected to convene a meeting on May 19 in the White House Situation Room with senior national security advisors to consider military options related to Iran [1, 4, 5, 6].
The US-Iran peace talks have stalled after an April 8 ceasefire agreement. While Iran has made proposals, Trump and other US officials have found them disappointing, calling for strict terms such as limiting Iran to a single nuclear facility and transferring stockpiles of highly enriched uranium to the US [4, 7, 8, 3]. In a May 18 interview with the New York Post, Trump stated he is not open to concessions after receiving Iran's latest offer, saying "I really can't talk about it now, there's too much going on" [7, 9]. Iran denies hostility toward Gulf countries and continues negotiations mediated by Pakistan [8, 3].
Meanwhile, regional violence escalated. On May 17, the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant suffered drone attacks that caused a fire in a generator but no casualties or radiation leak. UAE Presidential Adviser Anwar Gargash condemned the attacks, warning they risk destabilizing the region. That same day, Saudi Arabia intercepted three drones launched from Iraqi airspace, and the UAE intercepted two drones [4, 6, 10]. Saudi defense spokesman Turki al-Maliki said Saudi Arabia "reserves the right to respond at the appropriate time and place" [10].
Israeli military officials reported that Hezbollah fired approximately 200 rockets into Israel over the past weekend despite a ceasefire extension agreed in April [2, 11, 12, 8].
The next key development is Trump's meeting on May 19 with his national security team to assess military options on Iran amid the ongoing diplomatic impasse and rising regional violence [1, 4, 2].
