Iran-US War: Iran’s parliament speaker has firmly denied that any negotiations have taken place with the United States. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote, "Iranian people demand complete and remorseful punishment of the aggressors. All Iranian officials stand firmly behind their supreme leader and people until this goal is achieved."
He added in a separate post, "No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped".
Qalibaf’s posts came after US President Donald Trump suggested that Iran was keen to make a deal and that US envoys were in contact with a "respected" Iranian leader.
Trump said on Monday that he had ordered a five-day postponement of attacks he had threatened against Iranian power plants, and claimed that the US was talking with Tehran about ending the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. However, Qalibaf, who has been mooted as the Iranian leader involved in these discussions, said on social media that no talks had taken place.
Early on Monday morning, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the US and Iran had held "very good and productive" conversations over the past two days about a "complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East".
"We have had very, very strong talks. We'll see where they lead. We have major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement. All I'm saying is, we are in the throes of a real possibility of making a deal," he told reporters.
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Trump declined to specify who in Iran the US was speaking to but said it was not Khamenei, who was wounded in the Israeli attack at the start of the war that killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the Washington Post.
"We're dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader," Trump said.
Trump said over the weekend that the US would "obliterate" Iran's power plants unless the country releases its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil passes, within 48 hours, a deadline that would have expired late Monday, Washington time.
By extending the deadline by five days, Trump said the suspension was "subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions." Meanwhile, Tehran’s state-owned IRAN newspaper reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied that any talks had taken place.