25 MAR 2026
President Donald Trump said the US would postpone strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure after what he called “productive conversations” with the country, in comments that spurred confusion over the participants in the talks and parameters of a deal.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he was holding off on striking Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, citing “major points of agreement” with Iran. Trump said special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had discussions Sunday into the evening with a “top person” on the Iranian side, claiming both parties were keen to “make a deal” and would talk again Monday by phone.
“Iran has one more opportunity to end its threats to America and their allies, and we hope they take it,” Trump said later Monday in Memphis. “It could very well end up being a very good deal for everybody,” he added, repeating that Iran cannot be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.
Trump suggested the US and Iran could jointly control the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that’s been essentially closed since the start of hostilities, roiling global energy markets. Trump said the strait could be open very soon “if it works.”
Brent crude plunged from $112 a barrel to as low as about $96 after Trump signaled negotiations were underway even as Iran denied the talks. Prices were trading below $102 a barrel by 12:44 p.m. in New York as the Trump administration races to kick-start regular shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said a “top person” is representing Iran in the discussions but that the individual was not Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Axios reported Monday that Witkoff was negotiating with Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian Parliament’s speaker. Ghalibaf in a post on X, however, said no negotiations have been held with the US. Iranian state TV said the US had tried to negotiate with Iran through intermediaries in recent days, but said the country had not responded to those requests.
Trump said the US would give negotiations “a five-day period” and refrain from attacks on energy infrastructure.
“We’ll see how that goes, and if it goes well, we’re going to end up with settling this,” he said. “Otherwise we just keep bombing our little hearts out.”
After Trump’s latest comments on Monday, Iran said it was firing fresh missiles and drones at Israel and US targets — challenging hopes for immediate de-escalation.
Trump previously ordered Marines to head to the region, including the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan with more than 2,000 troops.
The talk of a deal “could be a head fake by the president,” said Fred Fleitz, who served on the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first administration. Still, Fleitz, who now serves as a vice chairman at the America First Policy Institute, said he was “hopeful this will be the beginning of the end of major military operations.”
The chief goal remains stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon, and under a deal the US would retain the country’s uranium stockpile, Trump said on Monday. Trump said Iran and the US were already in agreement on the matter — including a prohibition on enriching uranium for medical and other civilian purposes.
Various Middle Eastern countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman, have been involved in back-channel talks with Iran in the past two weeks to try to contain the war and, ideally, to find a way for the Islamic Republic and the US-Israeli coalition to agree to a ceasefire.
Trump had given Iran until Monday evening in Washington to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or the US and Israel would start bombing the country’s power plants. Iran had vowed to hit energy, information technology and water facilities across the Middle East in response.
Iran also said it would lay mines across the “entire Persian Gulf” in the event of further attacks on its coastline, the country’s National Defense Council said on Monday.
“Weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz is not an act of aggression against one nation. It’s economic terrorism against every nation,” Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., said in an address to the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the conflict, which the US and Israel began with a wave of airstrikes on Feb. 28 that killed former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The blockage to the waterway, a conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas exports, has seen oil and gas prices surge, with fears growing of an inflation and food crisis.
Iran has retaliated to the ongoing bombardment with strikes on Israel and around the Persian Gulf. At least 4,200 people have been killed in the war to date, more than three quarters of them in the Islamic Republic.
Israel plans to continue operations while avoiding energy assets, according to an Israeli official, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Israel was told about Trump’s social media post ahead of time, two officials said.