Donald Trump boasted that Iran had asked for peace talks tomorrow in Doha, only for Tehran to dispute his claim, saying no talks had been scheduled after a weekend of carnage and rocket fire.
‘Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in DOHA!’ Trump wrote to his followers on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, moments before Trump issued his shock statement, the Iranian deputy foreign minister said, ‘No technical meetings of the working groups are planned for this week.’
Trump’s peace talk claims come after both countries exchanged a barrage of rocket fire and carnage over the weekend, threatening to destroy the fragile nuclear negotiations aimed at ending the war.
House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the US plans to dispatch Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to lead the talks.
The violence erupted last week after Iran unleashed a swarm of one-way suicide drones on US-backed cargo ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
The US military responded by destroying Iranian missile and drone storage locations as well as radar sites along the Persian Gulf.
:Violence will be met with violence…there were attacks on commercial vessels that the United States of America, directed by the President, responded to,’ Leavitt said.
Global oil prices have ticked upward amid the uncertainty in the region, with Brent crude edging up to around $72 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advancing near $70 a barrel.
