President Donald Trump sharply rebuked Iran’s claim that no talks have transpired to end the war after reporters questioned him over the conflicting messaging on Monday morning.
Trump made the comment after he said earlier in the day in a Truth Social post that he had ordered the Department of Defense to pause military strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for five days following “very good and productive conversations” with Iran regarding ending “hostilities” in the Middle East.
Iranian officials denied that Tehran is in talks with the president shortly after Trump made the claim. Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Qalibaf also said that “reports claiming otherwise are fake news aimed at influencing financial and oil markets and distracting from the challenges facing the U.S. and Israel,” according to state media.
Ahead of boarding Air Force One on Monday, a reporter asked Trump about Iran’s remarks that he was “not telling the truth when it comes to ‘productive conversations’ to end the war,” prompting the president to take a jab at the Middle Eastern country.
“Well, they’ll have to get themselves better public relations people,” he shot back. “We have had very, very strong talks. We’ll see where they lead. We have major points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement.”
