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DONALD TRUMP HAS claimed the US is negotiating with Iran to bring an end to the war, but Iranian officials have dismissed the president’s comments as “fake news” spread with the intention of bringing down skyrocketing fuel prices.
It has been almost four weeks since the United States and Israel began their war against Iran and although Trump has claimed victory multiple times since then, he said on Monday that there had been “productive” talks with an unnamed Iranian official.
Trump’s statement, posted in the early hours of Monday morning (before the US markets opened), made instant headlines.
He said that because of these talks, he would hold off on ordering attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure for five days. He had given Iran 48 hours to relinquish control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
When the markets opened, the price of oil dropped and stock prices rose.
Iran’s foreign ministry later flatly denied Trump’s claim about there being talks between the two sides. It was the second time in the space of two weeks that Iran rejected Trump’s comments about negotiations.
So is there anything to indicate that these talks have taken place? Or is Trump, as Iran and many commentators have said, simply making them up?
Some media reported that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had talked to the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also denied having any contact with the US.
“No negotiations have been held with the US,” he said in a post on X.
“Fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” Ghalibaf wrote.
At the same time that Trump was talking about negotiations with Iran, he was sending 5,000 marines to the Middle East, which analysts have said could be the force used in a ground invasion of the Iranian Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, which is vital to Iran’s oil network.
Earlier today, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the conflict.
The US had agreed in principle to join talks in Pakistan, according to three Pakistani officials, one Egyptian official and a Gulf diplomat, while mediators were still working to convince Iran.
In mid-March, Trump also said Iran had approached the US seeking to negotiate a deal to end the war, but that he rebuffed those attempts. That too was dismissed by Iran as a response to the economic chaos brought about by the war.
And last week, the Israeli bombing of the South Pars gas field, to which Iran responded by attacking the Ras Laffan gas field in Qatar, sent shockwaves through the already shaken global energy market.
Trump responded to the apocalyptic headlines that followed by denying the US had any knowledge of the strike and declaring there would be “NO MORE ATTACKS” by Israel on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
He said Israel had “violently lashed out” and struck a “relatively small section” of the site, adding that there would be no more attacks unless Iran targets Qatari energy infrastructure again.
Israeli officials told Reuters that the US was aware of the attack but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel had acted alone.
The pattern of Trump responding to alarming economic developments during the war with Iran mirrors his approach to his “liberation day” tariffs, which he repeatedly delayed as his self-imposed deadlines drew near.
Those last-minute deferrals similarly resulted in boosts to stock markets.
Another example of Trump not following through on threats came earlier this year, when he ultimately did not order an invasion of Greenland.
The Strait of Hormuz will be controlled by me and the Ayatollah😎😁 pic.twitter.com/IxIgo1Pn6S
— Iran Embassy SA (@IraninSA) March 23, 2026
Today it has been reported that the US has offered a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran.
The plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran, according to a person briefed on the proposal who spoke to the Associated Press.
An Iranian military spokesperson mocked US attempts at a ceasefire deal today, insisting the Americans were only negotiating with themselves.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, made the statement in a video aired on state television.
“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of empty promises has come to an end.
“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”
Iranian officials have made fun of Trump’s claims throughout the war.
The X account of Iran’s embassy in South Africa has been to the fore in that regard.
When Trump was asked about who would control the Strait of Hormuz, he said it could be owned “jointly” by himself and the “next” leader of Iran.
“Maybe me. Me and the ayatollah, whoever the ayatollah is, whoever the next ayatollah is,” he told a reporter.
“There’s automatically a regime change, but we’re dealing with some people that I find to be very reasonable, very solid,” he said. “The people within know who they are. They’re very respected, and maybe one of them will be exactly what we’re looking for.”
The Iranian embassy account responded by posting his words along with a photo of a children’s toy steering wheel on the passenger side of a car.
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