Trump Said U.S.-Iran Talks Would Start Monday. Iran Says They Never Did — and U.S. Officials Agree.
The president called off a massive bombing campaign on the promise that negotiations were about to begin. Tehran's foreign ministry says the only talks happening are with Oman, and American officials told CBS News no new negotiations are scheduled.
President Trump spent the weekend telling the country that the war with Iran was nearly over, that a deal was close, and that negotiations would open Monday. On Monday, Iran said no such talks were taking place — and U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News that no new negotiations were on the calendar.
The gap between the two accounts is not a minor scheduling dispute. Trump called off one of the largest planned bombing campaigns of the six-month conflict on the strength of what he described as an emerging framework. Writing on Truth Social on Aug. 1, he said the United States had "just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack" while the parameters of an agreement were worked out. The strikes, according to U.S. and Israeli planning described to CBS News, would have hit Iranian power plants and refineries — energy infrastructure the administration had until then left largely alone.
Trump described the outline of the deal in expansive terms. "The deal is imminent, having to do with the Hormuz Strait and also, ultimately, the denuclearization of Iran," he said. The framework, as the White House has characterized it, rests on three pillars: the immediate and complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, the end of Iran's nuclear weapons program, and Israeli buy-in. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed Trump directly in a phone call on Saturday over the choice of targets, according to accounts of the conversation, and the strike package was shelved within hours.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, drew a much narrower picture. "We are not negotiating with the United States at this time," Baqaei said Monday. "Our negotiations are with Oman." Those discussions, he said, are limited to reaching an understanding on shipping routes through the strait — a technical maritime question, not the sweeping arms-control bargain Trump has advertised. Muscat has served as the back channel between Washington and Tehran for more than a decade, and Omani mediation has repeatedly been the vehicle through which indirect messages pass without either side conceding that direct talks are underway.
By Monday afternoon Trump's tone had hardened. "Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!" he wrote on Truth Social, accusing Tehran of asking for a meeting — "some would say 'beg'" — and then denying it once talks began. It was a reversal from the confident forecasts of the previous 48 hours, and it left unresolved the question of whether the canceled strikes are canceled permanently or merely postponed.
The stakes behind the confusion are measured in lives and dollars. The war began in late February and has drawn more than 50,000 American troops into the region. Eighteen U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds wounded. A memorandum of understanding reached in June briefly halted the fighting before collapsing in early July. Markets, at least, read Monday as de-escalation: Brent crude fell more than 4% to roughly $84 a barrel. American drivers are still paying above $4 a gallon, up from about $3 before the war started.
Originally reported by CBS News.