President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. has had good and productive conversations with Iran, and he will order the military to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
Trump's move followed a threat by Iran to attack Israel's power plants and those supplying US bases across the Gulf region if the U.S. targets Iran's power network.
Conversations with Iran will continue throughout the week, Trump said in a social media post.
"I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR FIVE days, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS," he wrote.
President Donald Trump claimed Monday that the United States and Iran were engaging in “very strong talks” toward resolving the three-week war in the Middle East, adding that Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, one of his most senior advisers, were leading the negotiations from the U.S. side.
Trump said he was postponing any U.S. attacks on Iranian power plants by five days while the talks take place. However, at least publicly, Iran appeared to reject any progress in ending the U.S.-Israeli war on the country, now in its fourth week.
U.S., Israeli and Iranian officials have frequently given clashing prognoses throughout the war as they seek to advance their competing agendas and motives.
Trump himself has often issued contradictory pronouncements about his plans for the next steps in the conflict, sometimes on the same day. On Saturday, Trump had threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants after 48 hours unless Iran agreed to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route in the Persian Gulf.
Now, Trump said the United States is communicating with one of Iran’s leaders, demanding an end to Iranian nuclear enrichment and the country’s uranium stockpiles that could be used to one day make a bomb. He declined to name their Iranian interlocutor, except to say that it was not the newly anointed Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
The Israeli government did not immediately comment, and it was unclear whether it would be bound by any agreement. But Trump insisted that Israel was going to be “very happy with what we have,” adding that U.S. officials had just discussed the talks with Israeli counterparts.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said there had been regional initiatives aimed at reducing tensions. But the ministry argued Trump’s statements were part of an effort “to reduce energy prices and to buy time for implementing his military plans,” according to Iran’s state-run Mizan news agency.
Analysts and officials say there is still no clear off-ramp for the American-Israeli air war with Iran, which began Feb 28. and has ignited a wider regional conflict. Despite Trump’s calls for the ouster of the Islamic Republic and his vow to help Iranians overthrow their leaders, the Iranian government remains in place, as does much of its nuclear program.
The foreign minister of Oman, which has frequently mediated between the United States and Iran, said on social media shortly before Trump’s announcement that Oman was working to establish “safe passage arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz.”
The war’s global fallout has seen the price of oil and gas shoot up over 50% since late February — a crisis that is now worse than the oil shocks in 1973 and 1979 combined, according to the head of the International Energy Agency. Iran has largely blocked most Western and Arab oil vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil normally crosses.
Trump’s announcement that talks with Iran were in the offing immediately reduced the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the industry standard, to about $100, after climbing to $114 earlier Monday. But it was unclear how long that optimism could last without tangible progress toward ending the war.
More than 2,000 people have been killed so far since the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran that ignited the conflict more than three weeks ago, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, where Israel has fought a second front with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.
Here’s what else to follow today:
— Israeli air defenses: Israel’s military faced scrutiny Sunday about Iranian missiles that hit Dimona, a city 8 miles from Israel’s main nuclear facility, and the nearby city of Arad on Saturday night. More than 10 people were seriously injured and dozens more hurt in the strikes, renewing concerns that Israel might be holding back on using its most sophisticated air defenses to avoid depleting them.
— Attacks in Lebanon: Israel’s military chief said Sunday that its campaign against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group in Lebanon, had “only just begun,” adding that Israeli forces were preparing to push deeper into that country. Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, ordered the military to step up the demolition of bridges and houses in Lebanon, deepening fears that Israel is preparing for a long-term occupation in the country’s south.
— Death tolls: Iran’s U.N. ambassador said that at least 1,348 civilians had been killed in the country since the start of the war — a toll that has not been updated for over a week. On Friday, a Washington-based group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, reported that at least 1,398 civilians had been killed. More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed, authorities there said Thursday. At least 15 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel, officials have said. The American death toll stood at 13 service members.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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