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US Negotiators Allegedly Told Iran to Ignore Trump's Social Media Posts.
American officials privately told Iranian negotiators to disregard Trump's public posts on Truth Social, describing his rhetoric as aimed at domestic audiences while the actual negotiating position behind closed doors is "completely different." A deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz is simultaneously close and falling apart.
Photo from whitehouse.gov
While Trump was posting on Truth Social about blowing Iran "to kingdom come," his own negotiators were quietly telling Tehran to ignore him.
According to Irani media that is not an allegation. That is what Iran's state-affiliated Fars News Agency reported, citing a source close to the Iranian negotiating team.
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American officials and mediators privately told Tehran not to pay attention to Donald Trump's public posts, including on Truth Social, suggesting they are aimed mainly at domestic audiences and that his negotiating position behind closed doors is "completely different."
A sitting US president's own diplomatic team is telling the country he is negotiating against to tune him out.
Let that sit for a moment.
A member of Iran's parliament National Security Committee who attended talks between Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir and Iranian negotiating team head Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said that US envoy Steve Witkoff had been providing "unrealistic reports" to Trump. He said Trump's social media posts based on those reports had created sensitivity in Iran and even upset Pakistani mediators.
The man carrying messages between Washington and Tehran is apparently not carrying accurate ones.
On the same day this was being reported, Trump posted that a deal had been "largely negotiated" and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. He said he had just come off a call with leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain.
Several of the Middle Eastern leaders on that call urged Trump directly to take the deal with Iran. A regional source told Axios the message from everyone was clear. Please stop the war for the benefit of the whole region.
Eight countries on one phone call telling America to stop fighting.
And yet the deal is still not done.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the parties were finalizing a 14-point memorandum of understanding that would create a temporary framework for diplomacy. Under the proposed arrangement, Iran and the United States would spend 30 to 60 days after signing the memorandum negotiating the most contentious issues, including Iran's nuclear program, sanctions relief, frozen Iranian assets and the Strait of Hormuz.
But Baghaei summarized where things actually stand in a single phrase that immediately circulated across Iranian media.
"The agreement is both very far and very close," he said.
If you have followed this far, here is what is actually happening beneath the surface.
Iran is not negotiating from a position of desperation. Fars News, citing the source close to the Iranian team, reported that Tehran would not discuss its nuclear program at this stage and would make any such talks conditional on US confidence-building measures first.
Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that the process could collapse at any moment because of what it described as America's maximalist approaches. The IRGC-linked Fars agency said talks would fail unless the United States showed flexibility.
A Tabnak online poll of more than 110,000 respondents inside Iran found that nearly 70 percent predicted no agreement would ultimately be reached and that the war would resume.
The Iranian public does not believe this ends in a deal. Nearly seven in ten said the war comes back.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a cautious tone publicly, saying some progress had been made and that there may be news soon.
"There may be news later today. I don't have news at this very moment, but there might be some news a little later today," Rubio told reporters in New Delhi. "There may not be. I hope there will be, but I'm not sure yet."
That is the Secretary of State of the United States, speaking in public, about whether one of the most consequential negotiations in years will produce anything.
Trump himself gave a cleaner summary of where he thinks things stand.
"I think one of two things will happen: either I hit them harder than they have ever been hit, or we are going to sign a deal that is good," he said, calling it a "solid 50/50."
His negotiators are telling Iran to ignore his posts. His Secretary of State does not know if there will be news today. Eight regional leaders are begging him to take a deal. And his own envoy is allegedly feeding him inaccurate information about the state of the talks.
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. The war is still ongoing. And somewhere between Truth Social and a 14-point memorandum of understanding, the fate of one of the world's most critical waterways is being decided.
The agreement is both very far and very close. That may be the most honest sentence anyone has said about this entire situation.
Editor's Note: The revelation that US negotiators privately advised Iran to disregard Trump's public statements raises serious questions about the coherence of American diplomatic strategy. When a president's own team is distancing his negotiating position from his public rhetoric, the gap between what is being said and what is being negotiated becomes a story in itself. The next 48 hours will determine whether this ends in a deal or another round of strikes.
