Trump Hardens Iran Ultimatum on Memorial Day

President Trump marked Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and proclaiming a national hour of prayer for peace, but spent the holiday at the White House weighing whether to resume airstrikes on Iran. He had planned to spend the weekend at his New Jersey golf club and to attend his son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding, returning to Washington instead as the administration weighed military action should Tehran reject a "final offer." On Truth Social, Trump said any agreement with Iran would have to be "great and meaningful" -- "the exact opposite" of the 2015 nuclear deal -- or there would be no deal, and used a separate holiday message to brand Democrats "Dumocrats." At Arlington, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine and War Secretary Pete Hegseth paid tribute to fallen service members and Gold Star families.

The diplomatic track remained mired in mistrust. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would not accept "excessive demands" in the talks, reiterating its readiness to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, while analysts including Rouzbeh Parsi described both sides as seeking a diplomatic exit each doubts the other will honor. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking during a visit to New Delhi, said Washington would consider alternatives if diplomacy fails.

Israel signaled it would not be bound by any US-Iran agreement, saying it reserves the right to strike regional threats, including in Lebanon, even if a deal is finalized -- a stance that fed domestic criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the war. Separately, Middle East Eye reported that the US and Israel are working to end Jordan's historic custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem, a plan said to be championed by Jared Kushner and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee that would replace the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf with an Israeli-created body.

The war's economic toll was clearest at the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel traffic has collapsed about 95 percent since the conflict began on February 28, falling from roughly 100 ships a day to around six, according to data from the IMF's PortWatch tracker.

Away from the Middle East, a chemical emergency unfolded in southern California. A tank of methyl methacrylate leaked at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, forcing the evacuation of more than 44,000 residents; Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Saturday, and firefighters later eliminated the threat of an explosion from the overheating tank.