President Trump has backed off on his threat to bomb Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz wasn’t “fully opened” by Monday night and claimed that Washington and Tehran had held talks over the past two days, which has been denied by Iranian officials.
“I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” the US president added.
In response to Trump’s initial post, Iranian media reported that there had been no talks and that Trump backed down because of Iran’s warning that it would retaliate with major attacks on energy infrastructure in Israel and in Arab countries housing US bases. A source told Iran’s Tasnim news agency that the US had sent messages through mediators, but that Iran’s message is that it will continue fighting until “deterrence” is established.
“With this kind of psychological warfare, neither the Strait of Hormuz will return to pre-war conditions nor will calm return to energy markets,” the source added. The Iranian Foreign Ministry also denied that any negotiations with the US were taking place.
Speaking to reporters later in the day, President Trump continued to claim that negotiations were underway and that his envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in talks with an official in Iran he couldn’t name over concerns they would get killed. An Israeli official told Axios that Witkoff had been in contact with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, but Ghalibaf quickly denied the claim.
“Our people demand the complete and humiliating punishment of the aggressors. All officials stand firmly behind their Leader and people until this goal is achieved,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. “No negotiations with America have taken place. Fake news is intended to manipulate financial and oil markets and to escape the quagmire in which America and Israel are trapped.”
Amid the confusion over Trump’s claim, the war continues, and the Israeli military claimed that it was carrying out “wide-scale” strikes on targets in Iran.
