- Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Monday that “no negotiations” were held with the United States following US President Donald Trump’s announcements of ongoing talks.
“No negotiations have been held with the US, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
At the same time, Iran’s foreign ministry said it had received messages through “friendly countries” regarding a US request for talks but denied that any negotiations had taken place since the start of the war.
“Over the past few days, messages were received through some friendly countries indicating a US request for negotiations aimed at ending the war,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, according to the official IRNA news agency.
However, he “denied any negotiations or talks with the United States during the past 24 days of the imposed war.”
- Ahram Online Analysis
Donald Trump’s decision to delay strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure does not reflect a settled strategic choice. It reflects hesitation under pressure. In a matter of hours, the American position shifted from escalation to talk of negotiations, without a clear explanation of what had changed.
This alone captures the central problem: Washington is no longer acting from a defined endgame, but reacting to developments it did not fully anticipate.
The first layer of pressure is domestic. The war has begun to affect markets in ways that cannot be ignored. Rising energy prices, instability in oil and gas flows, and growing uncertainty in global trade are no longer abstract risks. They are immediate concerns. The United States may be able to absorb shocks better than others, but it is not insulated from them. Trump, who has tied his political standing to economic performance, cannot afford a prolonged disruption in energy markets that he cannot control.
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz has amplified these pressures. The issue is no longer limited to oil exports. Insurance costs for shipping have surged, routes are being reconsidered, and the broader system of maritime trade is beginning to slow. If this continues, the impact will not take months to appear—it will be felt within weeks across multiple economies. What began as a regional confrontation is already producing global consequences.
At the same time, the military assumptions that shaped the opening of the war have not held. The strategy was built on a high starting point: a decisive strike, the removal of key Iranian figures, and the expectation that this would trigger internal instability. None of this has happened. The Iranian system has not collapsed, and there has been no internal uprising. Instead, the state has absorbed the blows and continued to operate, forcing Washington to confront a reality it had hoped to avoid.
Read the full story here
- President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that the Iranians want a deal and the US wants a deal too, as confirmed that Washington envoys were involved in talks with Tehran on a deal to end the US-Israeli war on the country, setting a five-day timeframe for the talks.
President Trump said there are “major points of agreement” with Iran after talks continued late into Sunday with two top US envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
“We’ll see where they lead,” Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, adding that the discussions “went, I would say, perfectly,” and were initiated by Iran. “If they carry through with that, it’ll end that problem, that conflict, and I think it’ll end it very, very substantially.”
Trump said envoys Witkoff and Kushner were involved in the talks with what he described as a “respected” Iranian leader.
He added that further phone calls were expected Monday, followed by an in-person meeting “very, very soon.”
“They want very much to make a deal. We’d like to make a deal too,” Trump said. “We’re doing a five-day period, we’ll see how that goes. If it goes well we’re going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we just keep bombing our little hearts out.”
- The Iranian Revolutionary Guard denied on Monday participating in any security talks with the United States, saying that US President's claims of "productive talks with Tehran only reflect a crisis in the American position, following Iran’s continued strikes on its military presence in the region."
The IRGC statement, carried on its Telegram channel, came minutes after US President Donald Trump's Truth Social post.
In tandem, Iran’s Fars news agency cited security sources denying the claims, saying "there is no direct communication between Iran and the US, nor through intermediaries."
The source added that "Trump had walked back on his threats after learning that Iran would target all US-linked power plants across West Asia."
- US President Donald Trump said on Monday he will "postpone any and all strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period" after having issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Tehran on Saturday.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump wrote: "I am pleased to report 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 in the Middle East.”
He added: “Based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, I have 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.”
- Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty warned that ongoing military escalation could plunge the Middle East into a “total chaos” during a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, on Monday, as the two sides discussed efforts to de-escalate rising regional tensions, the foreign ministry said.
- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Sunday that 22 countries, including NATO members and allies such as South Korea and Japan, are coordinating efforts to reopen navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
“I know the President was angry because he feels that European and other allies have been too slow,” Rutte said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
“The good news here is that since Thursday, a group of 22 countries, most of them from NATO but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, UAE and Bahrain, most of the other countries from NATO coming together to implement his vision of making sure that the Strait of Hormuz is free, is opening up as soon as is possible,” he added.
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the media on Monday, "We carry out assessments all the time to keep us safe, and there’s no assessment that we’re being targeted in that way at all."
Starmer's statements came after the Israeli army, which is carrying out, along with the US, a war on Iran, claimed the Iranian regime posed “a global threat," claiming Iran’s missiles “can reach London, Paris or Berlin," without offering any evidence to back up its claim.
The Israeli claim was pushed after an attempted strike on the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia – in the Chagos Islands – on Thursday night into Friday morning.
Diego Garcia is about 3,800km (2,360 miles) from Iran and home to an airbase capable of accommodating long-range US bombers.
"What we need here is de-escalation, and that’s why we had a statement from a number of countries last week about what we need to do about the Strait of Hormuz, which obviously needs careful coordination and a viable plan," added Starmer.
"But it’s very important we defend our interests, we defend British lives, but without getting dragged into the war, and that’s the clear divide I’ve put in place."
- Egypt condemned in the strongest terms Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and warned against any ground invasion of the country, describing the attacks as a “blatant violation” of Lebanese sovereignty and international law, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
The statement said Israel’s escalation included the deliberate targeting of vital facilities and infrastructure, including bridges linking different parts of Lebanon, calling it a grave breach of the United Nations Charter.
Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire have intensified across southern Lebanon since 2 March in recent weeks, damaging roads, bridges, and residential areas in Beirut and across the country.
Israeli officials have recently signaled the possibility of a full-blown ground invasion of southern Lebanon and a longer war against Hezbollah after the end of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Lebanese authorities and humanitarian agencies say the Israeli strikes have killed nearly 1,030 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, estimated at up to around one million, while disrupting access to essential services and complicating aid delivery in affected regions.
- The UAE’s defence ministry said in a post this morning that its defences were responding to incoming missile and drone “threats” from Iran. There were no immediate reports of any injuries or casualties.
It said yesterday that it had responded to 1773 drones, 345 ballistic missiles, and 15 cruise missiles since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran on 28 February.
- Stocks tumbled on Monday, and oil prices jumped after Donald Trump and Iranian leaders traded threats over the key Strait of Hormuz, while Israel said the Middle East war could last several more weeks.
With the conflict now in its fourth week and showing no sign of ending, the head of the International Energy Agency warned of the worst global energy crisis in decades and said the world economy was under "major threat" from the crisis.
Observers, meanwhile, have also raised the prospect of a surge in inflation that could force central banks to hike interest rates, while the choking off of fertiliser shipments has also fanned concerns about global food security.
The escalation hammered stock markets, with Seoul and Tokyo -- which had been the standout performers before the war started -- taking the brunt of the selling, shedding 6.5 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
Hong Kong shed more than four percent, while Singapore, Taipei, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila all lost between two and three percent. Sydney and Wellington were also deep in negative territory.
South Korea's won dropped to 1,510 won per dollar, its weakest level since 2009.
Oil prices jumped more than two percent with Brent above $113 and West Texas Intermediate topping $100.
- Residents reported blackouts across large parts of Tehran after heavy airstrikes struck multiple areas of Iran’s capital early Monday.
It came shortly after Israel announced it would target Tehran’s infrastructure, without providing more details.
Iranian media reported explosions across Tehran, and residents described power outages after sustained strikes in the city’s eastern, western, and northern regions.
The blackouts came after the United States and Iran traded threats on Sunday over potential attacks on civilian infrastructure.
On Saturday, Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum that he would strike Iranian power plants if Tehran does not reopen the Start of Hormuz to all ships, while Iran responded by threatening to attack US and Israeli-linked infrastructure in the region in that case.
- China warned on Monday that further attacks on the Middle East risk creating an "uncontrollable situation" in the war-torn region, after Trump threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants.
"If the war expands further and the situation deteriorates again, the entire region could be plunged into an uncontrollable situation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference, when asked about Trump's threats.
Short link: