Iran launched a new wave of missiles against Israel Tuesday, hours after US President Donald Trump hailed “very good” talks to end the war despite Tehran denying any dialogue had taken place.
Trump’s surprise disclosure — which prompted a positive response from jittery markets and pushed oil prices down — came ahead of a deadline he imposed for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane or see the US “obliterate” its power plants.
Trump said his administration was speaking with an unidentified “top person”, while warning if talks failed in the next five days “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out”.
Axios, citing an unnamed Israeli official, identified Trump’s interlocutor as Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s speaker of parliament and one of its most prominent non-clerical figures.
The outlet reported US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may meet an Iranian delegation for talks in Pakistan as soon as this week, with Vice President JD Vance possibly joining.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt did not deny the reports, saying “speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House”.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Monday he spoke with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, promising Islamabad’s help to bring peace to the region.
But Ghalibaf said on X that “no negotiations” were underway, insisting Trump was seeking “to manipulate the financial and oil markets”.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said messages were received from “some friendly countries indicating a US request for negotiations aimed at ending the war”, but denied any such talks had taken place, Iran’s official IRNA agency reported.
