Iran’s parliament speaker says the US president is using the idea of talks to “get the US and Israel out of the quagmire they are trapped in.”
Senior Iranian officials denied that Iran had held talks with the United States, hours after US President Donald Trump claimed there had been “very good, productive conversations” aimed at ending the war.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf said in a social media post on Monday that “no negotiations are taking place with the United States.”
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“Fake news (sic) is being used to manipulate financial and oil markets and to escape the quagmire that the US and Israel find themselves in,” Ghalibaf wrote in X.
This echoes earlier statements by Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghai, who also denied any talks with the United States had taken place.
In comments shared by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Baghai said he had “received messages from some friendly countries regarding the United States’ request for negotiations to end the war.”
The denial comes as the US and Israel’s war against Iran enters its fourth week, with the Israeli military announcing on Monday that it had launched a new offensive against Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Iran has also continued to fire missiles and drones across the Middle East, effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Gulf waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass.
There are growing concerns that this will cause global energy prices to soar and increase the suffering of war on people around the world.
On Saturday, President Trump threatened to “destroy” Iran’s power plants if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz to all ships within 48 hours.
But on Monday morning, in an all-caps Truth Social post, the US president said he had directed the US Department of Defense to “delay any military strikes against Iranian power plants or energy infrastructure for five days” amid talks with Iran.
He said the postponement was contingent on “the success of ongoing meetings and discussions.”
Separately, President Trump also told reporters that the meeting took place on Sunday. He said the US had been meeting with a “top figure” in Iran, but did not specify who that person was.
“They really want a deal. We want a deal, too,” President Trump said. “We’ve got a five-day period and we’re going to see what happens. And if it goes well, we’re going to finally settle this issue. If not, we’re just going to keep attacking our little minds.”
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Iran denies any talks have taken place, but regional actors are calling for a de-escalation of tensions.
“There are some messages that are being conveyed by players in the region,” Hashem said.
“Right now everyone is trying to get the two sides back to a level where they might start some kind of framework (of talks). But how will this be reflected on the ground and how will it be demonstrated? This is the big question.”
Hassan Ahmadian, a professor at the University of Tehran, said Trump may be using the possibility of talks as a way to back away from his 48-hour ultimatum to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure, which would further escalate the war.
“It appears that there are mediation efforts initiated regionally by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkiye to try to find a way out of this conflict,” Ahmadian told Al Jazeera.
“But the fact that[Trump]is so committed to this mediation effort speaks volumes about his willingness to rise above the deadline he issued and the threat of Iranian retaliation, which according to the Iranians would have been really significant,” he said.
“He wanted to get off, and I think this mediation effort was his way of making that happen.”
