President Trump said Friday that the United States had agreed to Iran's request to continue nuclear negotiations, an assertion Iran's foreign ministry denied hours later, as officials in Washington and Tehran offered contradictory accounts of what remains of the June 17 ceasefire after two days of exchanged strikes across the Strait of Hormuz.
In a separate Truth Social post the same day, Trump warned the United States would "decimate and destroy" Iran if Tehran acted on threats to assassinate him. Taken together, the Friday statements underscore how the memorandum of understanding that paused the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, signed in mid-June, has frayed since Iran struck three commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
The dueling accounts
Trump wrote on Truth Social: "The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue 'talks'." He added: "We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!" Iran's foreign ministry spokesman told Iranian state television hours later that no new negotiations had been requested, saying Tehran had only accepted a visit by a Qatari delegation seeking to break the impasse, Al Jazeera reported.
Trump had used similar language on Wednesday, telling reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara that "as far as I'm concerned, it's over" while adding that Iran "wants to make a deal so badly." A U.S. official told CBS News that the 60-day truce is performance-based and that Iran's tanker attacks this week had "failed performance at an unacceptable level."
The assassination threat
Trump's second Friday post read: "1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!" He said he had already directed the U.S. military to be ready to retaliate.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Israeli intelligence had passed information to U.S. officials indicating Iran was weighing a new plot against Trump. Trump dismissed the report in an interview with the New York Post but told reporters this week at the NATO summit that "I'm No. 1 on the kill list for Iran."
Tehran's response
Iran's Parliament Speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Friday that Tehran remained open to diplomacy while preparing for wider fighting. "At any moment the Americans betray the understanding, we are ready for full-scale defence and will stand firm against them and defend the rights of the Iranian people," Ghalibaf said, according to Al Jazeera. He added that "this conflict will never end with Iran's surrender." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spent Thursday on calls with counterparts in Oman, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and with Pakistan's army chief, condemning the U.S. strikes as ceasefire violations.
The counterpoint
The two sides have offered conflicting versions of their contacts throughout the war, which began Feb. 28, and neither Friday claim could be independently verified. Alex Alfirraz Scheers, a military analyst, told Al Jazeera that any resumption of talks would likely yield "very little" without trust-building and that any such session would be "almost symbolic" in the current climate.
Qatari officials were in Tehran on Friday exploring whether to move future talks to Doha or Islamabad, Al Jazeera correspondent Victoria Gatenby reported. U.S. Central Command said it has hit about 170 targets in Iran since Tuesday, and neither side launched fresh strikes Thursday night into Friday morning.