US says Iran talks continue despite reported suspension of indirect negotiations

Confusion deepened around US-Iran diplomacy after President Donald Trump insisted negotiations were still moving ahead, even as an Iranian state-linked report said Tehran had put indirect talks with Washington on hold.

“Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Earlier, Iran’s state news agency Tasnim reported that Tehran was suspending indirect negotiations with the US after Israel ordered its forces to advance further ‌into Lebanon.

Speaking by telephone to several news outlets after the report was published, Mr Trump said he had received no indication that Iran was stepping back from talks with Washington.

Mr Trump also said he was comfortable with a pause in communication and prepared to wait.

In another interview with CNBC, Donald ⁠Trump said he would not be troubled if the talks had ended

“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 told NBC.

Mr Trump said a breakdown in negotiations would not automatically lead to US strikes on Iran, while making clear that the US blockade of ⁠Iranian ports would stay in force.

In a separate interview with CNBC, Mr ⁠Trump had said he did not mind if the talks were over.

“I don’t care if they’re over, honestly … I couldn’t careless,” CNBC quoted him as saying.

Not long after those interviews were reported, Mr Trump posted on social media that talks with Iran were still under way.

Tasnim’s report that indirect negotiations had been halted added another complication to already fading hopes for a quick resolution, after Iran said it had struck a US air base in response to weekend US attacks on Iranian military targets that further tested a fragile ceasefire.

Oil prices jumped by more than $5 a barrel following the Tasnim report.

Mr Trump had earlier repeated on social media that he believed Tehran wanted an agreement. Yet optimism about a breakthrough was checked by Iranian officials, who complained about what they called the “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 pointed to Lebanon as another obstacle complicating the diplomatic effort.

“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 economic pain far beyond the region by driving up energy prices after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important routes for oil and liquefied natural gas.

Despite a ceasefire that has been in place since early April, Iran and the US have continued to exchange sporadic attacks, 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 at the weekend, saying the assets posed a threat to 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 struck an air base used by the US in retaliation for an attack on southern Iran.

It did not name the base, but Kuwait said it had activated air defences and condemned Iranian missile and drone strikes that, it said, were damaging efforts to ease tensions across the region.

US forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at American troops in Kuwait late on Sunday, the US military said, adding that no US personnel were injured.

Stop negative ‘chirping’

In a late-night social media post yesterday, Mr Trump said Iran “really wants to make a deal”.

He lashed out at critics, including what he called “seemingly unpatriotic Republicans”, accusing them of 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.

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Washington was delivering mixed messages and warned that such an approach would fail as a negotiating 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 regarded Israeli military actions in the region, including in Lebanon, as inseparable from US policy.

Sides at odds on several issues

Mr Trump is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lower US gas prices before the November congressional elections, as frustration over rising costs grows among voters.

At the same time, he risks criticism from Iran hawks within his own party if he is seen as offering Tehran too much.

Mr Trump has said his central objective in the war is to stop Iran from turning its highly enriched uranium into a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.

The two sides remain divided on several other major issues, including Tehran’s demand for sanctions relief and access to tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue frozen in foreign banks.

Iran also wants Washington to end a blockade on its ports, imposed after Tehran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz.

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Iranian state media said 15 vessels, among them four oil tankers, had moved through the strait in the past 24 hours after receiving permission and being escorted and protected by the Revolutionary Guards Navy.

But shipping executives gathered in Athens said any eventual peace agreement would have to set out clear rules before 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 another major barrier to any wider deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed troops to push deeper into Lebanon as fighting with Hezbollah continued.

Mr Netanyahu also ordered strikes on targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. His office accused Hezbollah of repeatedly breaching a ceasefire reached 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.