Iran crisis update: Tehran and Washington are giving sharply different accounts of the diplomatic track after the latest pause in direct strikes. President Donald Trump said the United States is having “good talks” with Iran and sees a chance for a deal, while a senior Iranian diplomat said Tehran rejected a U.S. proposal in Islamabad because it included “extreme demands.”
The split matters because the military pause has not settled the central fight over the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar and Pakistan are still trying to pull the two sides back toward negotiations, and Oman remains tied to talks over how ships would move through the waterway.
Iran says the Islamabad talks failed
CBS News reported Monday that Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said Tehran rejected a U.S. proposal during recent negotiations in Islamabad. According to Gharibabadi, the U.S. side said that if the proposal was rejected, the negotiations would be considered a failure and Washington would leave.
Gharibabadi said Iran “explicitly rejected” the proposal and did not press the U.S. delegation to keep the talks alive. He framed that posture as “dignified diplomacy.”
He also connected the failed talks to the maritime dispute, saying Iran rejected a separate idea that would have kept a southern shipping route open until Iran-Oman talks over the Strait of Hormuz reached a conclusion. That keeps Tehran’s position intact: Iran says the strait remains closed except under its own rules.
Trump says talks still have a chance
Reuters, in reporting carried by Al-Monitor, said Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the United States is “having good talks” with Iran and that there is “a good chance” something could happen. He warned that if diplomacy fails, the U.S. would “go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.”
That comment came after Washington suspended a two-week air campaign against Iran. Reuters reported that U.S. military commanders had advised the president that the bombing campaign had reached the limits of what it could achieve, while Trump publicly dismissed concerns about U.S. munitions stocks.
The Hindu’s live coverage, citing Reuters, also reported Trump saying Washington was in “very deep talks with Iran” and that he was ready for “strong military action” if diplomacy failed. Iran’s Foreign Ministry, however, said Monday that there were no current direct negotiations with the United States.
Mediators are still trying
The Associated Press reported that Qatari and Pakistani mediators have made progress toward getting the United States and Iran back into negotiations and restoring an interim ceasefire deal that collapsed earlier in July. AP cited regional officials, one of whom described the progress as “significant.”
The mediation effort is focused partly on a mechanism for vessel passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and Oman have continued separate talks over the strait, but Tehran has insisted those discussions are bilateral and not a back door to direct U.S. talks.
The pause is still fragile
The military lull has reduced immediate pressure on energy markets, but it has not ended the regional risk. Reuters reported that Brent crude fell more than 8% Monday after the U.S. bombing halt and Trump’s comments about talks. At the same time, Iran said it still controlled the contested Hormuz route and Iranian state media said six ships were turned back after attempting to use unauthorized routes.
Saudi Arabia also said drones launched by Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq targeted oil facilities, while Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted Saudi crude oil transport infrastructure. Those attacks show why the latest diplomacy is still operating under battlefield pressure.
For now, the new angle is not that talks are happening. It is that the two sides are describing the same diplomatic window in opposite ways: Washington is selling a possible deal, Tehran is publicly emphasizing rejection, and mediators are trying to keep the pause from collapsing.