Iran-Israel war LIVE: Trump says Iran 'wants to make a deal', but Islamic Republic denies any talks

Lead

U.S. President Donald Trump has again extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying on Monday, March 23, that the United States would hold off striking Iranian power plants for five more days. Trump claimed that his envoys have been in talks with a “respected” Iranian leader and that Iran “wants to make a deal.” But Iranian officials flatly denied any negotiations, with state television asserting that Trump backed down “following Iran’s firm warning.”

The mixed signals sent oil prices tumbling and stock markets jumping as observers scrambled to interpret the president’s statements. Brent crude plunged more than 14% to $96.00 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate shed more than 14% to $84.37 a barrel on March 23, according to market data cited in one report. On a day of whiplash announcements, Iran’s neighbors breathed a sigh of relief after Trump stepped back from the brink over his threat to target Iranian power infrastructure.

Just days later, on April 5, Trump appeared to extend his deadline again by 24 hours, continuing a pattern of last-minute extensions when mediators claim progress toward ending a war that has killed thousands, shaken global markets, and spiked fuel prices in just over five weeks, per a report from The Hindu.

Coverage Comparison

The two reports from The Hindu present a fast-moving, multi-front conflict. One article covers the late-March deadline extension, the Iranian denial, and the market reaction. The other details the early-April follow-up: Iran’s condition for reopening Hormuz, the downing of another U.S. military plane, and a deadly Israeli strike in Beirut that drew international condemnation.

Both accounts juxtapose U.S. and Iranian narratives, often without adjudicating between them. For example, Trump’s claim of productive talks is set against Iran’s statement that messages received from friendly countries indicate a U.S. request for negotiations, but that no talks are underway. The reports also include regional reactions, from Pakistani mediation efforts to British air-defense deployments and UAE accusations of “economic terrorism.”

Key Claims

Trump’s latest threat, delivered on March 21, was to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a threat he then extended multiple times. On March 23, he said U.S. envoys—including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner—had held talks with a “respected” Iranian leader and that there were “very good and productive conversations” and “major points of agreement.”

Iranian presidential spokesperson Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei countered on social media that the Strait of Hormuz can reopen only if transit revenues compensate Iran for war damages, according to a report from The Hindu. Iran’s Culture Minister Sayed Reza Salihi-Amiri dismissed Trump’s threats, calling the U.S. leader an “unstable, delusional figure” and saying the Strait is “open to the world but closed to Iran’s enemies.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told the official IRNA news agency that messages had been received from “some friendly countries indicating a U.S. request for negotiations aimed at ending the war,” but no talks are underway, according to Iranian officials.

On the military front, Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf countries and threatened to restrict the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as well as shooting down another U.S. military plane, per The Hindu. Tehran also threatened to deploy naval mines in the Gulf and target power plants and water infrastructure across the region, including an indirect threat at West Asian electrical and water stations that was seen as implicating a UAE nuclear plant.

Israel continued its own campaign. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke with Trump and that the president believed U.S.-Israeli military gains in Iran could be converted into a negotiated agreement protecting Israel’s interests. Israel launched a “wide-scale wave” of strikes on Tehran early Monday, March 23, and struck a Revolutionary Guards site used to direct Basij paramilitary battalions. In Lebanon, an Israeli strike on Beirut’s Jnah neighborhood on April 5 hit “a densely populated residential area... only meters from Rafik Hariri Public Hospital,” according to Doctors Without Borders, which condemned the strike. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said it killed four people and wounded 39, and came without warning.

Over the same weekend, a malfunction in the David’s Sling aerial interceptor system allowed two Iranian ballistic missiles to strike southern Israel, wounding dozens of people, according to one report. A blast rang out over Jerusalem and damaged a building after two rounds of Iranian missile fire early Tuesday, March 24.

The war has had a devastating economic impact. IEA chief Fatih Birol said the crisis has had a worse combined impact than the two oil shocks of the 1970s and the Russia-Ukraine war’s effect on gas markets, and that the global economy faces a “major, major threat.” He said at least 40 energy facilities were “severely” affected. The disruption has forced Asian refineries to cut output and fuel distributors to seek supply from as far as the United States and to buy more Russian fuel.

Perspectives

The U.S. perspective, as conveyed by Trump, is that Iran wants to make a deal and that U.S. military pressure is bringing Tehran to the table. He said “regime change” is effectively underway and that if talks fail, “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.” His envoys Witkoff and Kushner were said to be leading the talks.

Iran’s perspective rejects the notion of negotiations under duress. Iranian officials maintain that Trump backed down in the face of Iran’s firm warnings and that the Strait of Hormuz remains a leverage point. Iran’s condition for reopening the waterway is compensation for war damages, according to the presidential spokesperson.

Regional actors are caught in the middle. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it detected two incoming ballistic missiles on Monday, March 23. The UAE’s air defenses were responding to a missile and drone attack on April 6, and the country’s ADNOC chief called weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz “economic terrorism” against every nation. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to help bring peace, and Britain is sending short-range air defense systems to the Gulf, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

International organizations are sounding alarms. The IEA chief warned of a major global economic threat, while Doctors Without Borders condemned the Beirut strike for its proximity to a hospital. The war’s toll on civilians and infrastructure—including damage to the UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace in Tehran, attributed by Iranian authorities to a nearby airstrike—underscores the human cost.

As the conflict enters its sixth week, the gap between Washington’s claims of progress and Tehran’s denials leaves the region on edge. Whether the latest deadline extension leads to genuine talks or another round of escalation remains uncertain, but the world’s energy markets are bracing for either outcome.