Trump says we're 'blowing up the whole country' if Iran doesn't make deal in 48 hours

George Stephanopoulos asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio on "Good Morning America" about President Donald Trump’s assertion on Truth Social that the U.S. was "in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME” about ending the military operation against Iran.

Rubio responded, "Well, I'm not going to disclose to you who those people are, because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran.”

Rubio did say that “there's some fractures" within Iranian leadership.

"And if there are new people now in charge who have a more reasonable vision of the future, that would be good news for us, for them, for the entire world,” he continued. "But we also have to be prepared for the possibility, maybe even the probability that that is not the case.”

When Stephanopoulos pushed Rubio for more clarity, he responded, "you have people there that are saying some of the right things privately.”

"But at the end of the day, we have to see if these people end up being the ones in charge, seeing if they're the ones that have the power to deliver. We're going to test it. We are hopeful that’s the case,” he went on. "There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past. ”

Rubio also said that Trump’s comments indicated that he “prefers diplomacy,” despite his threats of repercussions if the talks failed.

-ABC News’ Shannon Kingston

President Donald Trump said in a post to social media on Monday morning that the U.S. is currently engaged in "serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran," but threatened to expand U.S. strikes if the negotiations fail.

"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 'Open 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 desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched,'" Trump wrote.

"This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime's 47 year 'Reign of Terror,'" Trump added.

Two Chinese container ships that turned back from trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Friday successfully transited the strategic chokepoint on Monday, according to MarineTraffic data published on X.

The ultra-large container vessels are owned by China's state-owned COSCO Shipping company.

MarineTraffic said it was the "first confirmed crossing by a major container carrier since the start of the conflict" which could signal "a potential shift in conditions for commercial shipping."

The two ships that crossed the Strait on Monday were the CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean, MarinteTraffix said.

-ABC News' Charlotte Gardiner

The Israel Defense forces said on Monday that rescue and emergency services were responding to the scenes of reported strikes in northern Israel.

The IDF statement came after reports of missile fire from Iran and from the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Photos and videos from the northern Israeli city of Haifa showed emergency services responding to a fire at an oil refinery.

There were no immediate reports of injuries related to Monday morning's attacks.