Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday denied US President Donald Trump’s claim that the two sides had engaged in “productive” talks on a possible end to the conflict launched by the US and Israel late last month.
According to Iranian news agencies, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the pledge by Iranian forces to retaliate against any US attack on Iran’s power plants forced the president to agree. In a post on Truth Social early Monday, Trump said he instructed The Pentagon to “delay any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period.”
Over the weekend, Trump vowed to “wipe out” Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully reopened by Monday night. Iran responded by saying it would hit the power plants it serves the US military installations in the Gulf countries.
“Trump, fearing Iran’s response, backtracked on his 48-hour ultimatum,” the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported Monday following the US president’s post on Social Truth.
In a statement reported by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, the country’s foreign ministry said Trump’s statement on Monday was “as part of efforts to lower energy prices and buy time to implement his military plans.”
“There are initiatives from the countries of the region to reduce tensions and our answer to all of them is clear: we are not the party that started this war and all these demands must be referred to. Washington“, added in the statement.
Iranian officials held that there were no direct or indirect talks with The Trump administration for the end of the war.
There was a conflicting claim by the US news organization Axios, citing an unnamed Israeli official source:
Since the US and Israel began bombing late last month, Tehran has publicly rejected diplomatic talks with the US, saying Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran sabotaged the previous nuclear the negotiations that had progressed.
“We do not ask for a cease-fire, but this war must end, in such a way that our enemies never think about repeating such attacks,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week.
Trump’s announcement that he would hold off on striking Iranian power plants for at least five days was seen by some in the US as a cynical attempt to calm jittery global markets, not an indication of movement towards a diplomatic solution.
“Trump is not announcing a pause in attacks. He is saying he is postponing a potential war crime — attacks on Iran’s civilian energy infrastructure.” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “Also, this is not a message to Iran. It’s a panic message to the markets: ‘No escalation of war until markets close on Friday.’
Jamal Abdi, president of the Iranian American National Council, said in a statement Monday that “we hope the president will not negotiate with himself on social media and TV cameras to calm the markets, while there really is no end to this war.”
“It should shock Americans that, in the face of this apparent withdrawal, our commander-in-chief is threatening war crimes and to blow up power plants in Iran,” Abdi said. “While this may be an attempt by the president to seize control of escalation from Iran, this notion is punctured by the fact that Iran is likely to respond to such crimes with its own despicable attacks on power plants and civilian infrastructure in the region, further upping the ante against the US and the global economy.”
“This is why diplomacy is critical now,” Abdi added. “However, the president has severely undermined the power of American diplomacy as well. President Trump’s past two attempts at diplomacy with Iran ended in surprise attacks by Israel, supported by the US, and have created the impression that the president is using the talks as a cover for Israel to launch military strikes. Unless the president is willing to negotiate seriously and can also curb the possibility of war and deal with Israel, putting boots on the ground or committing crimes war, will take this war even further from a possible end point.”
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