Trump claimed talks happened. Iran denied them. But the discrepancies go even deeper

Are negotiations happening? Is peace likely? A close examination of events and facts after Trump claims headway and direct talks

 Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

On Monday morning, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in all caps that “The United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities.”

That is, he claimed direct talks between the two countries. He further claimed that resolution was at hand. Stock-market futures jumped wildly on the supposed news.

Trump’s post continued to say that that he had "instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions."

Thirty minutes later, sources in Iran flatly denied any talks had taken place.

What actually appears to have happened was carefully reported by the Wall Street Journal late on Monday night: Foreign ministers from Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan had gathered before dawn the previous Thursday in Riyadh, attempting to find a diplomatic off-ramp. Their first problem was that they couldn't find a viable Iranian counterpart to negotiate with, because Israel had assassinated Ali Larijani, who had been considered the most viable partner for Western engagement.

But Egyptian intelligence managed to open a channel with the IRGC and floated a proposal for a five-day pause to build confidence for a ceasefire. Those preliminary discussions — conducted entirely through intermediaries, with no direct U.S.-Iran contact — made their way to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. Trump learned of them Saturday, after he'd made threats to bomb Iranian energy facilities, and he was receptive. The WSJ further reported that a direct meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials has been proposed, but has not taken place.

Arab mediators involved in the actual discussions privately expressed skepticism that a deal was anywhere close. Iran's own parliamentary speaker — one of the few senior officials left standing — said the same day that there had been no negotiations, and that Trump's optimism was “used to manipulate the financial and oil markets.”

So it does not appear to be true that any direct talks took place

In other words, Trump claimed direct talks had happened that did not happen, and further claimed that those........

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