President Donald Trump said Iranian officials sought negotiations that prompted him to halt a major military attack, then publicly denied dealing with Washington while claiming authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump accused Iran’s leadership of acting dishonestly Monday after Tehran denied conducting direct negotiations with the United States, despite what Trump described as an Iranian request for talks that led him to cancel a planned military strike.
Trump said Iranian officials had urgently sought a meeting with the United States over the weekend, prompting discussions and plans for additional negotiations. He criticized Tehran for subsequently claiming that it was speaking only with Oman and not the Trump administration.
“Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump also disputed Iran’s claims that it would control operations in the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the U.S. Navy and its blockade already determine which supplies reach the country.
“They then go on to give their usual blather in saying, the Strait of Hormuz will be operated powerfully by them, when it is already completely controlled by the United States Navy and our ‘Blockade’ or, as some say, ‘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. Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades. It is very simple, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” Trump added.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry offered a different account during its regular Monday briefing. Officials said Tehran was not engaged in direct negotiations with Trump’s administration and was instead discussing management of the Strait of Hormuz with neighboring Oman.
The conflicting statements followed Trump’s weekend announcement that he had canceled what he described as a major planned attack on Iran to allow additional time for a possible peace agreement. Trump said the arrangement to end hostilities was “imminent” and required the United States to pause military action while negotiations continued.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei acknowledged that diplomatic discussions were underway but said they involved Oman rather than Washington.
Iranian forces have carried out attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict with the United States began in February. The campaign has disrupted oil exports by neighboring Gulf states and contributed to rising global energy prices.
“Stating that there had been no third party in the talks with Oman, he [Baqaei] noted the issues related to the United States and its implementation of commitments would be reviewed later, in accordance with the circumstances,” the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Monday.
Baqaei characterized the discussions with Oman as productive but maintained that the United States had not participated. He said Iran was “not negotiating with the U.S. at the moment.”
“He added that negotiations with Oman have been pursued seriously over the past week, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi being in contact with his counterparts,” IRNA reported, “both in the region and beyond, with the aim of preventing the escalation of regional insecurity and ensuring Iran’s national interests.”
Baqaei said Tehran’s current objective was “reaching an understanding with Oman to ensure safe traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” rather than conducting wider diplomatic talks.
He also argued that an agreement with Oman alone would not restore unrestricted transit through the waterway. Baqaei blamed Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels on what he described as “an illegal and unprovoked war of aggression launched by the United States and the Israeli regime.”
Baqaei said “a significant change in the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is unlikely” until the United States stops being “evil.”
“The ball has long been in America’s court” to end the war, he claimed.
Trump launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, killing longtime Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and, with support from the Israeli military, eliminating dozens of Iranian officials.
The administration said the offensive was necessary because Iran was carrying out illicit uranium enrichment and approaching the capability to produce a nuclear weapon.
Trump had previously ordered strikes against Iran’s major enrichment facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in June 2025. Experts believed those attacks halted the activities underway at the sites, although the administration has not fully explained why the broader February offensive was necessary after the earlier bombing campaign.
Following several months of intermittent ceasefires, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2026. The arrangement temporarily reopened the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days and required both countries to begin negotiations toward another nuclear agreement.
The memorandum remained in effect only briefly. About one month later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps resumed attacks on civilian ships in the strait, leading the United States to restart military operations.
Anonymous reports during the past week indicated that Trump was considering a significant escalation in strikes against Iranian military targets. On Saturday night, the president confirmed that an attack had been prepared but said he had decided not to proceed.
“The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters [sic] of a deal has been agreed to.”
“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said U.S. allies in the Middle East had urged him to cancel the operation because they believed an agreement could be reached.
“We were all set to go, just about at this time right now, and it would have been a massive attack,” Trump said. “But when the allies asked to call it off, you got to sort of say, ‘Well, let’s see.’”
“The reason they asked is they think there’s a deal,” Trump continued. “There’s a deal on Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearization of Iran. I call it the denuclearization of Iran.”
“The deal is imminent having to do with the Hormuz Strait and also ultimately, the denuclearization of Iran,” Trump added.
Trump said negotiations involving Iran could begin as early as Monday, setting up the public dispute after Tehran denied that direct talks with Washington were underway.
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