President Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday that Iran is engaged in dialogue with the United States, even as Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, met with top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in Tehran. Qatar's foreign ministry reported the meeting focused on efforts to de-escalate current regional tensions, according to a statement released on X.
Trump told Fox News that negotiations are underway, adding, "We have a big fleet heading out there," referencing the substantial US military deployment to the Middle East. The President noted that US regional allies were not being briefed on potential strike plans due to security imperatives, following previous threats related to domestic unrest in Iran.
Washington has positioned a naval strike group, spearheaded by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, off the Iranian coast, signaling heightened readiness. General Richard Shirreff, former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, suggested to unnamed sources that Trump's operational goals remain opaque, cautioning that historical US interventions in the region rarely proceed as anticipated.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian conveyed to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, that Tehran does not seek conflict with the US, stating any clash would yield negative outcomes for both nations and the region. Pezeshkian spoke with Sisi, who reportedly received an invitation to join a US-backed 'Board of Peace'.
Ali Larijani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, further indicated progress in establishing negotiation frameworks, dismissing what he termed the "hype of the contrived media war." This statement followed Larijani's reported discussions in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding regional stabilization.
These diplomatic overtures occurred against a backdrop of domestic instability, including two separate, deadly explosions in Iranian cities on Saturday. An incident in the port of Bandar Abbas, which sits on the vital Strait of Hormuz, killed at least one person, though officials later attributed a separate blast in Ahvaz to a gas leak, according to Iranian news agencies.
Concurrently, Iranian Army Chief Amir Hatami warned the US and Israel against military action, asserting that Iran's armed forces are at full defensive readiness. Hatami stated that Iran’s nuclear science and technology are non-negotiable assets, according to the official IRNA news agency.
