‘That is a huge deal’

“He said if negotiations move forward today,” Baier said of the president, his plans could change. But before noon, when Trump reached out directly to Baier by phone, the president said he was firm: without progress, he would carry out his plans. “That is a huge deal,” Baier said on Fox News. “Obviously, we all think that it’s a thing he’s putting out there to say ‘don’t do this.’ He says he doesn’t want to do it, but he is--at this hour--sticking to it.”

“We will find out tonight,” Trump wrote in a post on his TruthSocial platform, calling Iran’s decision to engage in negotiations or not was “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.”

‘Threatening a war crime’

Trump’s historic threat dominated cable news coverage Tuesday, with CNN, NewsNation, Fox News, and MS NOW all devoting huge resources to the story--and plans for comprehensive coverage in prime time.

On MS NOW, host Jonathan Lemire calling out the president for “threatening a war crime” with his post on Iran. “That is threatening something genocidal if he follows through with this,” noting that Trump may only be bluffing in an effort to get the Iranian leadership to the negotiating table.

“But even just issuing that threat from the Oval Office is a remarkable escalation and something we have never before seen from any president of the United States,” Lemire said.

Before noon, The New York Times reported that Iran has “stopped negotiation efforts with the United States." International reporter Farnaz Fassihi cited three senior Iranian officials who said Iran would “no longer engage in cease fire talks.”