US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and vital infrastructure, including water desalination plants, if a deal to end the war was not reached “shortly”.Iran, meanwhile, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a “cover to bring more US troops to the region. “Iranian forces are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” said Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.The conflict that started on February 28 has shown no signs of let-up as Tehran hit a water and electrical plant in Kuwait and an oil refinery in Israel. Separately, Israel and the US launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran.Trump’s fresh threat came a day after Iran warned the US against sending ground troops, saying they would be “set on fire”. Also, Tehran threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if US troops set foot on its territory.The US President issued the threat through a post on Truth Social. He said the US was in “serious discussions” with a “new and more reasonable regime” to end its war on Iran, but threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s strategically crucial Kharg Island if a deal was not reached shortly.“Great progress has been made but if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately opened for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island and possibly all desalination plants, which we have purposefully not touched yet,” said Trump.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei on Monday acknowledged Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration, but said there had been no direct negotiations with Washington so far. “We have had only excessive, unreasonable demands via intermediaries,” he said.Iran’s terms for the peace deal included Israel halting attacks on Iranian allies in the region, something Israel is unlikely to agree to. It has also sought compensation for war damage and the removal of US bases from West Asia.Meanwhile, Trump is considering a mission to extract nearly 454 kg of uranium from Iran, US newspaper Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials. Referring to Iran’s uranium, Trump said, “They’re going to give us the nuclear dust.” The mission would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer, the report said.Last night, Trump told reporters that “Iran must do what the demands are or they’re not going to have a country”.Hormuz is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped and it is currently open to only Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iraq.Meanwhile, Iran and Israel have distanced themselves from the Pakistan-led mediation. Pakistan on Sunday hosted the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye for discussing a way forward. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, “Pakistan’s forums were their own; we didn’t participate.”In Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, special envoy, Foreign Ministry of Israel, said, “I don’t know what the Pakistanis think they’re doing. I think they’re trying to make themselves relevant. They are themselves a huge problem in the world of jihadi terrorism. They can try. I am not sure they’ll be very successful. I think they just want to shove themselves in the middle of something relevant at the moment.”Meanwhile, Spain, a member of the NATO, on Monday said it had closed airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war.