U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were under way, warning that it was a "last chance" for Tehran to sign a good deal to end the five-month-old war, but Iran denied that any negotiations were being held or planned.
The contradictory statements suggest there is little prospect for a diplomatic resolution to the war anytime soon.
"They are going on right now," Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event when asked about the state of negotiations, saying the sides were talking at the request of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, among others.
"This is a last chance for them (Iran) to sign a good document," he said.
Trump's comments followed his decision this weekend to call off what he said would be "massive attacks" he had authorized on Iran, saying talks were to be held, repeating a pattern in which he has vowed major strikes only to cancel them.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said no negotiations with the United States were taking place and no meetings were scheduled. Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days, he said.
Baghaei added that all Iranian negotiators were currently in the country, apart from Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq. The only talks under way, he said, were discussions with Oman over management of the Strait of Hormuz.
A senior Iranian source also told Reuters that no talks were planned and that Araqchi would be unavailable at least until the end of the week.
Gulf officials and analysts say Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the Middle East's trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation, hoping to convince the United States and its allies that containing the crisis is more costly than accommodating Iran's demands over the Strait of Hormuz.
"Their big advantage is that they can hurt the regional states and the global economy," said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute.
In a post on Truth Social later on Monday, Trump called Iran's leadership "unbelievably duplicitous," saying they had asked for a meeting and more talks were scheduled for the "immediate future."
He also repeated his assertion that the U.S. Navy had total control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the conflict.
"'The United States Wall of Steel!' Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished," he wrote.
REPEATED PATTERN
Monday's developments appeared to fit a pattern that has emerged since Trump launched "Operation Epic Fury" alongside Israel more than five months ago. On several occasions, Trump has threatened military action only to later cite diplomatic contacts as a reason for stepping back.
Iran, however, has publicly rejected negotiations with Washington since a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict collapsed in early July.
Trump has yet to achieve the objectives he set out at the outset of the war: dismantling Iran's nuclear program, curbing its ability to attack regional rivals and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers.
Repeated U.S. escalations have been met by escalating Iranian responses against U.S. forces in the region, Washington's Gulf Arab allies and shipping, each time ending with Trump stepping back.
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz remains a central point of contention. Washington says the June memorandum required Iran to open the strategically vital waterway, while Tehran argues the text explicitly preserved its authority over shipping traffic.
That would leave Tehran with greater leverage over the strait than before the war, a result that would likely be seen as a significant setback for Trump.
So far the United States has failed to compel Iran to relinquish its grip on the waterway, sending global oil prices higher and pushing up politically sensitive gasoline prices in the United States.
Amid signs that U.S.-Iran tensions were easing again, oil prices dropped and major stock indexes gained on Monday. Brent crude futures fell about 7% to around $83.77 a barrel while the Dow registered a record closing high.
Source: Reuters
-Agencies
