Trump says US will guide ships out of Strait of Hormuz

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.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray

Three members of Lebanon's Civil Defense were killed by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday while trying to carry out a rescue operation, Lebanon's Civil Defense said.

Hussein Sati, Hadi Daher and Hussein Ghadbouni were all long-time volunteers with the Civil Defense, the service said. Sati is survived by two children, while Daher and Ghadbouni were both in their 20s.

The Lebanese Armed Forces said two of its soldiers were also injured in the same attack.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule

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."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart