Trump calls Iran ‘duplicitous’ over denying talks, says it is ‘last chance’ for deal

Earlier Monday, Iran’s state media reported that no negotiations with the United States were taking place.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

President Donald Trump on Monday insisted negotiations with Iran were continuing despite Tehran’s public denials, accusing the country’s leadership of saying one thing privately while presenting a different message publicly.

The dispute emerged after Iran said it was not engaged in talks with Washington, contradicting Trump’s repeated claims that discussions were underway on reopening the Strait of Hormuz before moving to negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused Tehran of acting in bad faith.

“Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman,’” he wrote.

Earlier Monday, Iran’s state media reported that no negotiations with the United States were taking place.

Iranian officials said discussions were instead being held with Oman regarding a temporary safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We currently do not have negotiations with America,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, adding that Iran did not intend to receive foreign delegations or dispatch negotiators abroad in the coming days.

Speaking later at the White House, Trump rejected Iran’s account and maintained that negotiations remained active.

“They’re going on right now. It’s an amazing thing we have a little problem with Iran because we have many talks, and we’ll say we have or we don’t have. You know, we’re straight about it, but they deny it,” Trump said. “But they’re not denying it now. They just put out a statement, not denying it.”

Trump said reopening the Strait of Hormuz was the immediate objective of the negotiations.

“We’re talking about the strait, the opening of the strait, having it open literally by tomorrow, completely open, and that’s phase one,” he said, adding that negotiations would later turn to Iran’s nuclear program.

Describing the talks as Tehran’s final opportunity, Trump said, “This is a last chance for them to sign a good document,” adding, “I want to give them every last chance before decapitation.”

On Sunday, Trump said he had suspended what he described as a massive U.S. military strike after concluding that the “perimeters of a deal” had been reached. He also said the operation remained an option that could be carried out “anytime we want,” while stressing that Iran faced no formal deadline to reach an agreement.