US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that talks with Iran to end the Middle East war were underway “right now”, even as the Islamic Republic and Israel traded fresh strikes.
Uncertainty, however, swirled around Trump’s claims, with Tehran not confirming any negotiations and Israel insisting its military campaign would go on “unchanged”.
“We’re in negotiations right now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, saying Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were involved.
Trump added that Iran gave him a “very big present” related to oil and gas, offering no details but saying he had new faith in Tehran’s leaders.
The war that started on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran’s supreme leader has since spread across the Middle East, sending energy prices soaring and roiling the world economy.
Speculation has mounted that Pakistan could emerge as a mediator following an offer from its prime minister to host US-Iran talks, but on the ground, the hostilities went on unabated.
Israel’s army said it had conducted a “large wave” of airstrikes across several areas of Iran, while Iranian attacks on Israel injured seven people, including an infant.
Though Trump’s attention seemed turned towards diplomacy, Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin said his country’s war plan was “unchanged” and that it would continue “to deepen the damage and remove existential threats”.
Iran’s atomic energy organisation said a strike Tuesday evening hit inside the compound of its Bushehr nuclear power plant, but caused no damage.
At the same time, US media reports said thousands of additional US troops were heading to the Middle East to support operations against Iran.
The first hint of diplomacy came Monday when Trump unexpectedly announced that his administration was speaking with an unidentified “top person” in Iran as he extended by five days an ultimatum for the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz oil route or see its power plants attacked.
But Tehran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said “no negotiations” were underway, accusing Trump of seeking “to manipulate the financial and oil markets”.
Iran’s foreign ministry, however, acknowledged that messages had been relayed by “friendly countries” indicating a “US request for negotiations”.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that he had spoken with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, promising Islamabad’s help to bring peace to the region.
Should the two sides agree, “Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement”, Sharif wrote on X.
US media outlet Axios reported that Witkoff and Kushner may meet an Iranian delegation for talks in Pakistan as soon as this week, with Vice President JD Vance possibly joining.
“We’re actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly,” Trump told reporters.
Trump’s administration has held two sets of multi-round talks with Iran on its nuclear programme since he returned to the White House, with both ending in surprise attacks on the Islamic Republic — in June last year and most recently on February 28.
Analysts have floated other possible mediators, including Egypt and Turkey.
