WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened Monday to attack Oman, a longtime U.S. ally, if the country interferes with American efforts in the Strait of Hormuz, as a 60-day window for reaching a peace agreement with Iran expired without a clear resolution to the ongoing conflict.

"If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them," Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Trey Yingst, published Monday. It marked the second time this year Trump has directed such a threat at Oman. At a Cabinet meeting in May, the president said, "Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow 'em up."

The renewed threat came as the 60-day deadline for the United States and Iran to reach a deal toward ending their conflict passed Monday without any concrete agreement announced. Trump said he remains unconcerned about the lack of a timeline. "They're good poker players, but they're dying," Trump said of Iran. "I have no time schedule. I'm not in a hurry."

Trump also told Fox News that his administration has established a direct backchannel with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a claim the IRGC firmly denied Monday. A spokesperson for the Revolutionary Guards told Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency that Trump's assertion was a "lie" and "nothing more than fantasies stemming from the delusions and nightmares brought on by defeat and desperation in the war." The spokesperson added that diplomacy does not fall within the IRGC's remit and said that, "as far as we are aware, and based on statements by Foreign Ministry officials, there are currently no talks with the Americans even at that level, given Washington's broken promises and its long record of repeatedly violating its........

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