What They’re Saying About Operation Epic Fury—April 25, 2026
U.S.
President Donald Trump | Truth Social
“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
President Donald Trump | Press Interview
“‘I’ve told my people [Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner] a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18 hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing.’”
President Donald Trump | Press Interview
“I see no point of sending [Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner] on an 18 hour flight in the current situation [of the negotiations]. It’s too long. We can do it just as well by telephone. The Iranians can call us if they want. We are not gonna travel just to sit there . . . It doesn’t mean that [hostilities will resume]. We haven’t thought about it yet.”
President Donald Trump | Press Interview
“[The Iranian regime is] making an offer and we’ll have to see. . . . I don’t want to say [who in the regime the U.S. is negotiating with], but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Press Release
“Economic Fury is imposing a financial stranglehold on the Iranian regime, hampering its aggression in the Middle East, and helping to curtail its nuclear ambitions. At President Trump’s direction, Treasury will continue to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets. Any person or vessel facilitating these flows—through covert trade and finance—risks exposure to U.S. sanctions.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | X
“Under Economic Fury, @USTreasury will continue to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning multiple wallets tied to Iran — resulting in the freeze of $344 million in cryptocurrency. We will follow the money that Tehran is desperately attempting to move outside of the country and target all financial lifelines tied to the regime.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Comments to Journalist
“Not the Iranians [meaning the Treasury Department will not again waive sanctions on Iranian oil]. We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out. And we think in the next two, three days, they’re going to have to start shuttering production, which will be very bad for their wells.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | X
“I am amazed that the IRGC has forced the invention of a completely new type of oil trading — in COOKING OIL. As IRGC leadership tries to funnel more and more money into their offshore accounts, the regime's colossal economic mismanagement of Iran has forced the proud Iranian people to barter to feed their families, and to become dependent on their neighbors. Under @POTUS, the United States is committed to supporting the freedom and dignity of the Iranian people after 47 years of corruption.”
Treasury Department | Press Release
“Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned China-based independent teapot refinery Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., Ltd. (Hengli). China-based independent teapot refineries continue to play a vital role in sustaining Iran’s oil economy, and Hengli is one of Iran’s largest customers for crude oil and other petroleum products, having purchased billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum. Additionally, OFAC is targeting approximately 40 shipping firms and vessels that operate as part of Iran’s shadow fleet, whose transportation of petroleum and petrochemicals provides a financial lifeline to Iran’s unstable regime.”
Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz | X
“The Iranian Regime is getting desperate. It’s running out of [oil] storage. Capping its oil wells will be next. One has to wonder why the Regime is willing to risk sooo much for supposedly ‘civil’ nuclear enrichment . . .”
Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz | X
[Responding to an X post by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stating that “Our neighbors are our priority”] “Really? Then why did you fire thousands of rockets, drones, and ballistic missiles at their neighborhoods, hotels, and airports?”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker | X
“The time is over for negotiations with Iran's regime. The radical successors of Khamenei can never be trusted to keep any promise or agreement. Our Commander-in-Chief should direct his skilled military leaders to finish destroying Iran’s conventional military capabilities and eliminating any last remnants of their nuclear program. This is the only way to ensure lasting stability in the region.”
“Here they are: our two top Iran negotiators. No diplomatic experience. In way over their head. Both with massive financial conflicts of interest, their fortunes tied to the Middle East dictators that make them rich. What a disaster.”
IRAN
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf | X
“The enemy’s anger and the ravings of that criminal minister stem from our unity around the axis of leadership and the thwarting of their plots. Be angry and die from this anger.”
Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei | X
“On the fifth of Ordibehesht, the anniversary of the humiliating defeat of the American military in Tabas [referring to the failed Operation Eagle Claw in 1980], today holds a different color and scent for the people of Islamic Iran. The commando forces of the wretched enemy, in the recent war, were this time grounded in Isfahan and suffered a heavy, instructive defeat at the hands of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Americans should know that they also lack the capability to impose a naval blockade on Iran; Isfahan and Tabas will be repeated once again in the waters of the Persian Gulf.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian | X
“May 5th marks the anniversary of America's historic defeat in Tabas [referring to the failed Operation Eagle Claw in 1980], where divine supremacy over any other will was clearly demonstrated. This year too, by the grace of God, another Tabas was brought about in southern Isfahan, showing that the God of Tabas’s sands is the protector of this land’s people. I hope such historic defeats serve as a lesson for the arrogant powers of the world.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi | X
“Very fruitful visit to Pakistan, whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region we very much value. Shared Iran’s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy.”
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei | X
“We arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, for an official visit. [Foreign Minister Abbas] Araghchi will be meeting with Pakistani high-level officials in concert with their ongoing mediation & good offices for ending American imposed war of aggression and the restitution of peace in our region. No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the U.S. Iran's observations would be conveyed to Pakistan.”
GULF STATES
Anwar Gargash, Chief Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President | X
“You can’t be attacked with 2,800 missiles and drones then talk to me about trust. That will take ages and ages.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s strongest condemnation and denunciation of the targeting of two sites in the northern land border centers of the sisterly State of Kuwait with drones coming from the Republic of Iraq.”
“The State of Qatar condemns, in the strongest terms, the targeting of two northern land border posts in the sisterly State of Kuwait by drones launched from the sisterly Republic of Iraq, describing it as a blatant violation of Kuwait’s sovereignty and a serious threat to regional security and stability. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses the need for Iraq to assume its responsibilities to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.”
Kuwaiti Defense Ministry Spokesman Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi | X
“This morning, two sites of the northern land border centers of the State of Kuwait were targeted in a sinful aggressive attack by two fiber-optic wire-guided explosive drones originating from the Republic of Iraq, resulting in material damage, with no human casualties recorded, praise be to God. “
PAKISTAN
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif | X
“Was pleased to meet H.E. Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of Iran, and his delegation in Islamabad today. Had a most warm, cordial exchange of views on the current regional situation. We also discussed matters of mutual interest, including the further strengthening of Pakistan–Iran bilateral relations.”
EUROPE
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer | Comments to Journalist
“In relation to malign state actors [such as the IRGC] more generally, proscription, we do need legislation in order to take necessary measures, and that is legislation that we're bringing forward as soon as we can. We go into a new session in a few weeks’ time, and we'll bring that legislation forward.”
French President Emmanuel Macron | Comments at Press Conference
“Our goal is to achieve a full reopening in the coming days and weeks, in accordance with international law, so that freedom of navigation is guaranteed without tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. Then the situation can gradually return to normal. . . . We are all in the same boat, and I must say it is not a boat that we chose. We are victims of geopolitics and we are victims of this war that started a few months ago.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz | Comments to Journalists
“Reducing sanctions [on Iran] could be part of a [diplomatic] process. And no one has objected to this.”
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