Iran war talks were back at the center of the conflict Monday after President Donald Trump said there were “very friendly negotiations going on” and suggested a deal could still emerge. His comments came after the two sides went a third straight day without exchanging strikes, a pause that has fueled fresh questions about whether the fighting may be heading toward a broader break.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he believed there was “a good chance that something could happen.” He also warned that Washington would return to its previous military posture if the latest round of discussions failed. Tehran, for its part, denied that any direct talks were taking place. The back-and-forth leaves the status of the Iran war talks unclear, even as the administration publicly projects confidence.
Trump said he chose to pause U.S. strikes on Iran on Friday because the countries serving as intermediaries asked him to give diplomacy another try. That pause followed nearly two weeks of daily American strikes and retaliatory attacks, which had effectively unraveled the ceasefire reached in June. The United States military had said its strikes were meant to weaken Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil route.
The conflict has already carried a steep cost in the region. The U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, and Tehran answered with missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases and other assets in Gulf states, as well as targets inside Israel. In June, Iran and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding that called for military operations to stop, the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, and an agreement to end the war within 60 days. That arrangement did not hold.
