Aboard Air Force One/ Dubai: Iran said Monday there were no talks underway with the United States and no plans for any meetings, contradicting US President Donald Trump, who had cited talks he said would take place that afternoon as justification for calling off attacks.
Over the weekend Trump repeated a pattern that has emerged throughout the past five months: announcing plans for “massive attacks” on Iran, only to cancel them at the last minute. “Would I rather make a deal? I’m not looking to kill people,” Trump said aboard Air Force One Sunday. “Now what we’re doing is talking to them, in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” he said, without identifying a venue or participants for such talks.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei rejected the claim, saying no negotiations with the United States were taking place and no meetings were scheduled. Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days, he said. Baghaei added that all Iranian negotiators were currently in the country, apart from Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq. The only talks under way, he said, were discussions with Oman over management of the Strait of Hormuz. A senior Iranian source also told Reuters that no talks were planned and that Araqchi would be unavailable at least until the end of the week.
REPEATED PATTERN
Monday’s developments appeared to fit a pattern that has emerged since Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” alongside Israel more than five months ago. On several occasions, Trump has threatened military action only to later cite diplomatic contacts as a reason for stepping back. Iran, however, has publicly rejected negotiations with Washington since a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict collapsed in early July.
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