Iran Warns Trump's Hormuz Escort Mission Violates Ceasefire — IRGC Demands US Choose 'Impossible War or Bad Deal'

Iranian officials responded sharply to Trump's May 3 Hormuz escort mission announcement. Top Iranian official Ebrahim Azizi — a senior security council figure — warned publicly that the US plan to 'guide' ships through the strait beginning May 5 constituted a violation of the ceasefire agreement reached on April 8. Iran's position was that the ceasefire implicitly included a freeze on any new US military operations in the strait, not merely a suspension of airstrikes on Iranian soil. Separately, the IRGC intelligence department issued a pointed ultimatum via Anadolu Agency: Trump must choose between an 'impossible war' or a 'bad deal' — framing the negotiations in starkly binary terms that gave little room for diplomatic compromise. The IRGC also sent the US military a formal deadline to end the blockade of Iranian ports. Pakistani mediators expressed alarm at the dual Iranian messages — diplomatic engagement through the 14-point proposal while the IRGC simultaneously issued ultimatums — and sought clarification on whether the Pezeshkian government retained authority over the IRGC's military posture. Trump responded on May 3 by stating that US representatives were having 'very positive discussions' with Iran, and that the Iranian Foreign Ministry was reviewing the US response to Tehran's 14-point proposal. The competing narratives — US-positive-talks framing vs. IRGC-escalation framing — deepened the uncertainty surrounding what the ceasefire actually meant for either side's military activities in the strait.