Iran live updates: Trump says Iran just has to 'cry uncle' now

President Donald Trump told Axios in a phone interview on Wednesday that he rejected an Iranian peace offer that would lift the naval blockade and open the Strait of Hormuz but delay nuclear talks.

The president told Axios he was going to keep Iran under the blockade until the regime agrees to a proposal that addresses nuclear capabilities.

"They want to settle. They don't want me to keep the blockade. I don't want to [lift the blockade], because I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon," Trump told Axios.

Trump told Axios he saw the blockade as "somewhat more effective than the bombing" and his primary source of leverage.

"The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can't have a nuclear weapon," Trump told Axios.

The president added that Iran's oil storage and pipelines "are getting close to exploding" because Iran can't export oil due to the blockade.

President Donald Trump posted to social media early on Wednesday morning warning of fresh consequences if Tehran does not agree to a new nuclear deal.

"Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!" Trump wrote, adding, "No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an apparent rebuke of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's criticism of American strategy in Iran, saying that the German leader doesn't "know what he's talking about."

Merz, Trump claimed, "thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon" -- something Merz did not say in his Monday criticism of the U.S.-Israel campaign.

"If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago," Trump said.

"No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise," Trump added in the post.

Merz said at an event on Monday that the U.S. had "no strategy" in Iran and was "being humiliated by the Iranian state leadership."

The Trump administration is taking additional action against nearly three dozen entities and individuals accused of operating Iran's shadow banking networks.

The administration says these entities and individuals allow the Iranian regime to evade sanctions and pocket "tens of billions of dollars."

"By dismantling these financial channels, we advance the Administration's policy in the conflict with Iran and underscore our commitment to imposing maximum pressure on Iran," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.