Trump says U.S. and Iran are in talks; Iran denies White House talks

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President Donald Trump opened the fourth week of the U.S. war against Iran with guarded optimism that Washington could soon move toward a deal, a message that markets responded to quickly even as Iranian officials moved to dismiss it. Trump said in a post timed before markets opened that plans he announced over the weekend to bomb Iran’s power plants were being put off for five days unless Tehran opened the Strait of Hormuz by Monday evening, according to the Associated Press.

In the same message, Trump said he was postponing action because his envoys, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, had “very good” talks over the weekend with unnamed “respected” Iranian officials about ending hostilities. Trump did not describe the talks beyond that characterization, and he also did not mention Iran’s stated warning that vital infrastructure across the Gulf region— including energy and desalination facilities—would be considered legitimate targets and “irreversibly destroyed” if he acted on his threat.

As Trump warned of a coming deadline, the back-and-forth he described contributed to market volatility in Asia as the clock ran down, the AP reported. Trump also told reporters in remarks ahead of departing for Memphis, Tennessee, saying, “All I’m saying is we are in the throes of a real possibility of making a deal,” and adding, “But again, I’m not guaranteeing anything.”

Less than two hours after Trump’s plane left for Tennessee, Iran publicly rejected the premise that high-level communications were underway. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, posted on X that “No negotiations have been held with the US,” describing Trump’s comments as “fakenews” used to manipulate “the financial and oil markets.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry similarly said Trump’s statement was aimed “to reduce energy prices and to buy time for implementing his military plans.”

The U.S. objectives in the war, as Trump has repeatedly outlined them, have included degrading Iran’s missile capability, destroying its defense industrial base, eliminating the Iranian navy, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and securing the Strait of Hormuz. While U.S. and Israeli bombardment has made progress on some of those fronts, some regional analysts questioned whether Trump could credibly claim that the campaign has definitively achieved its goals—particularly ending Iran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb.

The AP reported that U.S. and nuclear watchdogs believe about 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium remains buried beneath rubble at three key Iranian nuclear sites damaged by a limited U.S. military operation last June during a 12-day Israel-Iran war. Trump said on Monday the U.S. would retrieve the uranium as part of a potential agreement, but he offered no operational details beyond saying the U.S. military will “take it ourselves.”

Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Mideast negotiator who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, posted on X that, “Trump’s war choice has not accomplished his military goals,” and argued that Iran still could attack Gulf allies and control the Strait of Hormuz. Miller said, “No nukes; no enrichment, good luck with that. A singularly incompetent use of America’s power.”

Even as Trump emphasized talks and the market response to his comments, he also sought to leave room for additional military pressure. He said the price of oil would drop “like a rock” as soon as a deal is done, but repeatedly cautioned he was not guaranteeing a result, telling reporters that he was not “guaranteeing anything” and that he did not want reporters to later say he had promised an outcome.

Trump also ordered additional U.S. troop deployments to the region as the administration weighed possible action connected to securing the Strait of Hormuz for tanker traffic to Asia. The AP reported that the U.S. moved last week to deploy three more amphibious assault ships and about 2,500 additional Marines, after redirecting another group of amphibious assault ships carrying another 2,500 Marines from the Pacific to the Middle East. The Marines were expected to take weeks to arrive, and the AP said they would join more than 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region.

Behnam Ben Taleblu of the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies said the situation reflected an energy-driven logic, telling the AP that the comments that calmed markets also appeared to be buying time for Marines to arrive. With Trump and Iranian officials presenting sharply conflicting portrayals of whether negotiations are happening and what they mean, the dispute remained centered on whether the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and what, if anything, follows from the weekend talks Trump described.