Iran denies engaging in talks with US after Trump claims Kushner, Witkoff held meeting

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei denied on Monday that any talks with the United States had taken place, contradicting US President Donald Trump's earlier statements that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had met with Iranian officials on Sunday. "We have had very, very strong talks. We'll see where they lead. We have points, major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement... we've had very strong talks, Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner had them," Trump said.

In a statement to Iranian media, Baghaei said that although some friendly nations had sent messages indicating that the United States had requested talks, Iran did not respond. Baghaei additionally noted that the regime's conditions for an end to the war, as well as Iran's stance on the Strait of Hormuz, remain unchanged.

An unidentified Iranian senior official told Reuters on Monday that the US had specifically requested a meeting with Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, but Iran's Supreme National Security Council has yet to review the matter. A source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that Ghalibaf is leading the talks with the US, while the Parliament Speaker stated in a post on X/Twitter that no talks had taken place and further stated that "fake news" is being used to manipulate financial and oil markets. (Read More)