US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said the ongoing talks with Iran are Tehran’s “last chance” to reach a deal to avoid massive air strikes.

The increasingly erratic US president told reporters on Monday that he wanted to give the Iranians “every last chance before decapitation.”

When asked by the reporters whether Iran would be willing to “return to a fully free navigation” of the Strait of Hormuz, he said the vital waterway “has to be [free], I am not going to let them charge. If anybody is going to charge, we’ll charge. We have total control.”

He again claimed, without evidence, that talks were being held “at the request of Iran” and with the support of several Gulf Arab states.

“We are talking right now [with Iran] at the request of Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia, backed by the UAE, and backed by Qatar in particular, but others also,” Trump said.

“Many countries called, but if it doesn’t happen, this is the last chance for them to sign a good document.”

Describing the US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as a “Wall of Steel,” the US president said, “Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished.”

President Trump had claimed that new talks to wind down the war would begin on Monday.

This followed claims that he had stepped back from “the biggest attack since World War II,” but instead had decided to give diplomacy more time after hearing from key Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as unnamed Iranian officials on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran was pursuing multiple diplomatic tracks and that it was not currently holding direct negotiations with the US.

Iran was instead holding talks with “Oman, regional countries and countries outside the region in order to decrease the tension,” said the ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei.

He said the focus of the discussions with Oman was to establish a temporary route for safe navigation through the strait.

“As long as the maritime siege and US actions continue, nothing significant will change in the Strait of Hormuz,” Mr Baghaei added.

In June, the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, a Pakistan-brokered deal aimed at ending the conflict and reviving stalled shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway. But the US soon broke the deal by launching attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran.