Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters. Photo courtesy of Tasnim news agency.
“We have also heard such details through the media, but according to my information — and contrary to Trump's claims — so far no negotiations, direct or indirect, have taken place between the two countries,” said Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam.
He added that it was “natural that friendly countries are always engaged in consultations with both sides to end this illegitimate aggression.”
His remarks followed reports citing Pakistani officials who said Iran had received a 15-point proposal from the United States aimed at reaching a ceasefire. The plan reportedly addressed sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limitations, and guaranteed shipping access through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The Trump administration reportedly offered the proposal as it seeks an end to the war, even while sending additional troops to the Middle East.
Mediators were reportedly pushing for a possible in-person meeting between Iranian and American officials, perhaps as soon as Friday in Pakistan, an Egyptian official and two Pakistani sources, who confirmed the proposal had been shared with Iran, told AP.
However, Iran has repeatedly denied any negotiations with the United States. Several senior Iranian officials reiterated this stance after Trump made a surprise statement on Monday referring to “very good” talks with an unnamed senior Iranian official.
This comes as Trump also announced on his Truth Social platform a five-day delay of strikes he had threatened against power stations and other infrastructure in Iran if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic. He warned that military action would resume if the negotiations failed.
The Axios news website suggested that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf could have been the official involved in the reported discussions.
Ghalibaf denied the claim in a post on X, saying, “No negotiations have taken place with the United States, and fake news is being used to manipulate financial and oil markets and to help the United States and Israel out of the quagmire in which they are stuck.”
On Wednesday, Iran’s military again dismissed Washington’s diplomatic overtures. Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a prerecorded message aired on state television that the United States was “only negotiating with itself.”
“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?” he added.
Iran remains highly suspicious of the US, which, twice under the Trump administration, carried out attacks during high-level diplomatic talks, including the strikes that started the current war.
“We have a very catastrophic experience with US diplomacy,” Spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Esmail Baghaei told India Today, adding that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had been in contact with Pakistani and other regional diplomats, but “there are no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States.”
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