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President Donald Trump said the United States was talking with an Iranian leader and claimed Tehran was eager to reach a deal to end the war, while he extended a deadline tied to the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking Monday in Dubai, he said the U.S. was extending its timeline to give diplomacy additional time and reiterated that Iran faced consequences if it did not reopen the strait. Trump’s remarks came after a weekend round of threats involving attacks on Iran’s power plants and raised renewed questions about whether the conflict could shift into negotiations as it entered its fourth week.
Trump told reporters that Iran wants “to make a deal,” and he said the U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks Sunday with an Iranian leader, without naming the person. Trump added that the U.S. had not talked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. He said the five-day extension was “subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions,” and later said his administration has been negotiating “for a long time” with Iran, according to his remarks in Tennessee.
On the nuclear track, Trump said that if a deal is reached, the U.S. would move to take Iran’s enriched uranium, which is critical to Iran’s disputed nuclear program. Iran has previously said it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, and the report cited Robert Goldston, a Princeton University professor who researches arms control and fusion energy, saying Iran had carried out 99% of the centrifuge work required to produce weapons-grade uranium. The story also referenced an International Atomic Energy Agency estimate as of June 2025 that Iran had 440.9 kilograms of highly enriched uranium.
Iran’s leaders rejected the idea that the U.S. and Iran had begun direct talks, with Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the Iranian parliament speaker, posting on X that “No negotiations have been held with the US.” Qalibaf also wrote that “fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets,” disputing Trump’s account of talks held Sunday. The report said Iran denied talks had been held even as Trump described a diplomatic opening.
Trump’s turn also coincided with signs of regional mediation. Turkey’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat, said he spoke by phone with Turkey’s counterpart Hakan Fidan, and the report noted that Turkey has served as an intermediary in past talks between Tehran and Washington. The Turkish Foreign Ministry declined to comment on whether messages were relayed, but the report said Turkish officials had said Fidan also spoke with counterparts from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, and the European Union, as well as with U.S. officials, as part of efforts to end the war.
Egypt’s president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Cairo had delivered “clear messages” to Iran focused on de-escalating the conflict, according to his office. The report also said Egypt’s foreign ministry described making “constant efforts and communications” with all parties. An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the U.S. and Iran exchanged messages through Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan over the weekend aimed at averting strikes on energy infrastructure. A Gulf diplomat also said Egypt and Turkey were leading de-escalation efforts, adding that for now it appeared they managed to avert an energy catastrophe.
Even with Trump’s extended deadline, the report described continued military pressure and fast-moving diplomacy signals. The war launched by the United States and Israel has killed more than 2,000 people, disrupted the global economy, sent oil prices surging and endangered air corridors in the region, according to the account. Trump had threatened over the weekend to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless Iran released its hold on the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, an ultimatum that would have expired late Monday Washington time before he extended it.
In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was aware of the talks between Iran and the U.S., telling reporters Monday, “We, the U.K., were aware that was happening,” without providing details. As the U.S. weighed the possibility of negotiations, the report said Israel launched new attacks Monday on Tehran targeting infrastructure, with explosions reported in multiple locations. It also said Israel continued fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the group had fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Iran and Lebanon even as the U.S. considered a ceasefire.
The report said authorities in Lebanon put Israeli strikes at more than 1,000 people killed and more than 1 million displaced. It also said Iran’s death toll surpassed 1,500 according to Iran’s Health Ministry, while in Israel 15 people were killed by Iranian strikes. The report added that at least 13 U.S. military members had been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.
Iranian media outlets framed Trump’s extension and remarks as a retreat after threats. Fars and Tasnim portrayed the American president as backing down, with Tasnim writing that messages had been sent by mediators but that Iran’s response was that it would continue its defense until the required level of deterrence was achieved. The report also said Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard had promised retaliation if Trump carried out his threat, and that Iran would strike power plants supplying electricity to American bases as well as other economic, industrial and energy infrastructures where Americans have shares.
In the same period, the report said Iran’s Defense Council warned against any ground attack, stating it would “lead to the mining of all access routes,” and noted that Trump said he had no plans to send ground forces into Iran but had not ruled it out. The account also said that Israel struck and that Iran launched missiles targeting the city of Dimona in Israel near a facility associated with Iran’s long-suspected atomic weapons program, with the report saying the facility was not damaged.