Fresh uncertainty clouded efforts to cool the Middle East crisis on Monday after US President Donald Trump insisted negotiations with Iran were still moving quickly, even as Iranian state media reported Tehran had paused indirect talks with Washington.
“Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said Tehran was halting indirect negotiations with the United States after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon.
Speaking by phone to news organisations after Tasnim’s report, Mr Trump said he had received no notice from Iran that discussions had been suspended.
“They haven’t informed us of that,” Mr Trump told NBC News.
He added that he could accept a period of silence between the two sides and was prepared to wait.
In a separate interview with CNBC, Donald Trump had said he did not mind if the talks were over
“I think we’ve been talking too much if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time,” he said in the NBC interview.
Even if negotiations were paused, Mr Trump said, it would not trigger US bombing of Iran. He told NBC the US blockade of Iranian ports would stay in place.
In a separate interview with CNBC, Mr Trump said he was unconcerned if the negotiations ended.
“I don’t care if they’re over, honestly … I couldn’t careless,” CNBC quoted him as saying.
Not long after those interviews were published, Mr Trump returned to social media to say talks were continuing.
Tasnim’s reported halt in indirect contacts adds another hurdle to hopes of a quick end to the crisis, following Iran’s statement that it struck a US air base after weekend US attacks on Iranian military targets — strikes that further tested a fragile ceasefire.
Oil prices climbed more than $5 a barrel after the Tasnim report.
Mr Trump had earlier reiterated online that he believed Iran wants an agreement. Iranian officials, however, sought to dampen expectations, criticising what they described as a “constantly changing” US position at the negotiating table.
A man rides a scooter past banners with pictures of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi also pointed to Lebanon — where another ceasefire is in place — as a key complication.
“Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” he said on social media.
Fraying ceasefires
The war launched by the US and Israel on 28 February has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.
It has also inflicted worldwide economic strain by driving up energy costs since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial corridor for global shipments of oil and liquefied natural gas.
Iran and the US have intermittently exchanged strikes despite a ceasefire in place since early April, while Pakistan has been working to broker a lasting peace deal.
The US military said it struck Iranian air defences, a ground control station and two drones over the weekend that it said were threatening ships after what it described as “aggressive Iranian actions”, including the downing of a US drone over international waters.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted an air base used by the US in response to an attack on southern Iran.
The Guard Corps did not name the base. Kuwait, meanwhile, said it had activated air defences and condemned Iranian missile and drone attacks, warning they were eroding efforts to lower regional tensions.
US forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at American troops based in Kuwait late on Sunday, the US military said, adding that no American personnel were harmed.
Stop negative ‘chirping’
In a late-night social media post yesterday, Mr Trump said Iran “really wants to make a deal”.
He attacked critics — including what he called “seemingly unpatriotic Republicans” — for negative “chirping” about the negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.
“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end – It always does!” he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Washington was sending mixed signals and argued that such an approach would not succeed as a bargaining tactic.
“Negotiations have started amid severe suspicion and mistrust, and the exchange of messages is taking place in this atmosphere,” Mr Baghaei said.
“The other party is constantly changing its views and putting forward new or contradictory demands…it is natural that this situation will prolong negotiations.”
Mr Baghaei said Iran considered Israeli actions across the region — including in Lebanon — to be intertwined with those of the United States.
Sides at odds on several issues
Mr Trump is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring down US gasoline prices ahead of November congressional elections, with voters showing growing anger over higher costs.
At the same time, any compromise with Tehran risks political blowback from Iran hawks within his own party.
Mr Trump has said his primary objective in the war is to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon using its highly enriched uranium. Iran denies seeking to build a nuclear arsenal.
Beyond the nuclear issue, the two sides remain divided over Tehran’s calls for sanctions relief and the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue frozen in foreign banks.
Iran also wants the US to end a blockade of its ports, imposed after Tehran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
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Iranian state media said 15 vessels, including four oil tankers, had transited the strait in the past 24 hours after securing permission and being coordinated and protected by the Revolutionary Guards Navy.
But shipping executives meeting in Athens said any peace settlement would need to set out clear rules so vessels could return to normal operations through the strait.
US plan for Israel and Lebanon
Israel’s war in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia remains a major obstacle to a broader deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed troops to advance further into Lebanon in the fight against Hezbollah.
Mr Netanyahu also ordered strikes on targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. His office accused Hezbollah of repeatedly breaching a ceasefire agreed in late April.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Mr Netanyahu about diplomatic efforts between Israel and Lebanon and has put forward a proposal for “gradual de-escalation,” a US official said.
