Trump extends Iran deadline by five days and claims ‘productive’ talks

Donald Trump has claimed there have been talks between the United States and Iran over the past day in which the two sides had “major points of agreement”, appearing to avert a potentially severe escalation of the conflict.Tehran has denied the claim, in which Trump also speculated that a deal could soon be done to end the war but Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said no talks had been held with the US since the bombing campaign began 24 days ago.Trump’s threat at the weekend to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power stations and energy infrastructure if Tehran did not allow shipping to move freely through the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s threat to destroy infrastructure across the Middle East in retaliation had raised fears of a deepening conflict and global economic crisis.Trump flip-flops on Iran deadline | The LatestIn a flurry of presidential announcements on Monday, Trump first posted on social media that he had extended by his deadline by five days, saying that the US and Iran had held “very good and productive conversations” in recent days, then told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida that his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and close aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner held “very, very strong talks” with the Iranians a day earlier.“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.Later on Monday, Trump played up the chances of a deal, saying: “We’re giving it five days, and then we’re going to see where that takes us. And I would say at the end of this period, I think it could very well end up being a very good deal for everybody.”Oman, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan have all been reported to have been involved in efforts to broker an end to hostilities in recent days, but it is unclear how substantial or productive such contacts have been. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, said on Monday that Oman was working hard to secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, told a parliamentary committee on Monday that the UK was aware discussions were happening. Starmer talked late on Sunday by telephone with Trump, according to Downing Street.Trump’s claims came amid continuing violence across a swath of the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates reported new incoming Iranian fire, US warplanes launched airstrikes against targets across southern Iran and the Israeli Defense Forces said it “has just begun another wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran”.In all his comments, Trump declined to say with whom the United States was speaking in Iran. “We’re dealing with the man who, I believe, is the most respected and the ‘leader’. It’s a little tough – we’ve wiped out everybody,” Trump said, stating only that the US had not talked to current supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.A senior Iranian official told Reuters the US had requested a meeting with Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, but that the supreme national security council had yet to decide on any proposed talks and Iran had yet to respond. Qalibaf himself described “fake news … used to manipulate the financial and oil markets”.The Fars news agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had earlier also denied any talks, saying there were neither direct nor indirect communications with the US. Iranian state news agency Irna quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson saying “friendly countries” had sent messages indicating that the US wanted talks to end the war but none had taken place.Iran has been defiant in the face of Trump’s threats and more than three weeks of the joint US-Israeli offensive. In response to Sunday’s ultimatum, Tehran threatened to target power plants supplying US bases across the Middle East, vital desalination facilities in Gulf countries, and to intensify strikes on Israel.On Monday, after Trump’s extension of his deadline, Iranian state television put up a graphic that read: “US president backs down following Iran’s firm warning.”There was surprise among many observers at the claim of an imminent negotiated end to a war launched by Israel and the US last month with an airstrike that killed the supreme leader Ali Khamenei and many senior regime officials. The US president had on Friday complained that the US had “nobody to talk to” in Iran, adding in apparent contradiction: “We like it that way.”Iranian attacks have in effect closed the strait of Hourmuz, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, threatening a deep and durable global economic crisis, with stock markets plummeting early on Monday before Trump’s announcements. Since then, oil prices have eased back and many financial markets regained some of their recent losses.Trump wrote in his post early on Monday morning that the US and Iran “have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations”, adding that he had “instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions”.It was not clear from Trump’s statement how Iran and the US might agree to “a complete and total resolution” to end the conflict, including the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz and addressing concerns over Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, whose whereabouts is unclear.In public, Tehran has also made demands for a ceasefire that would be impossible for Washington to meet, such as an end to a US military presence in the Gulf and massive compensation for damage caused during the war.Trump’s ultimatum came hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel, injuring more than 100 people, in the most destructive attack since the war began. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to retaliate “on all fronts”.Tehran had said it would “irreversibly destroy” essential infrastructure across the Middle East, including vital water systems, if the US followed through on Trump’s threat, and would also said it would hit power plants in all areas that supplied electricity to American bases, “as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares”.Nitya Labh, an expert in maritime security at London’s Chatham House, said that even an agreement with Iran that supposedly reopened the Strait of Hormuz would not restore previous conditions for shipping.“A lot of energy infrastructure has been hit in the Gulf, so even if the Strait of Hormuz opens we won’t see a return to the same level as before the war, even without the added risk and fears,” said Labh.“Even if Iran is willing to let shipping through, the industry will prioritise resilience over efficiency.”More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war that the US and Israel launched on 28 February, the majority of them in Iran. In Lebanon, authorities said 1,039 had been killed in Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah, with 2,876 others wounded.In Tehran, the US president’s comments were met with scepticism. “Trump is just buying time, calculating his next move. He’s not done with Iran,” said Ali, who did not want to give his full name. “He started this war in the middle of negotiations. And who’s he talking to? No one knows”Additional reporting by Saeed Shah in Islamabad