March 30, 2026, 8:49 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — More than a week after President Donald Trump said the U.S. was “in conversation” with Iran, there has been no face-to-face meeting despite Pakistan’s offers to host talks, and Tehran denies any negotiations are underway.
Both sides acknowledge exchanging messages through intermediaries, and foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt have discussed possible talks. But with thousands more U.S. troops arriving in the region and Trump threatening strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, there is little public evidence the conflict is close to a diplomatic end.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. was engaged in serious discussions with a “new, and more reasonable, regime” and that “great progress has been made,” while warning of attacks on Iran’s energy facilities if no deal emerges soon. Iran, however, insists there are no negotiations.
Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said on X that the U.S. has submitted requests for negotiations and proposals that arrived through intermediaries, including Pakistan. “Our position is very clear. At a time when US military aggression continues with intensity, all our efforts and capabilities are focused on defending Iran,” he said.
Pakistan army chief Syed Asim Munir — whom Trump has called his “favorite field marshal” — has been a central go-between, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and deputy prime minister and foreign minister Sen. Mohammad Ishaq Dar have also been involved, according to a regional official and public statements.
The U.S. has presented a 15-point plan to Iran via Pakistan. Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt have said Iran agreed to at least some elements, though the full list has not been made public. Special envoy Steve Witkoff described some details, saying Iran would be barred from enriching uranium on its soil — a demand Tehran has long rejected — would have to surrender about 10,000 kilograms of fissile material, and that “the oversight question” would be resolved. “All of these are red lines for us,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. demands include that Iran never acquire nuclear weapons, stop sponsoring terrorism, and cease developing weapons that threaten its neighbors.
Iran has repeatedly rejected the U.S. plan and offered its own five-point counterproposal: a complete halt to “aggression and assassinations by the enemy,” concrete mechanisms to ensure war will not be reimposed on Iran, war damages and reparations, and international recognition of Iran’s sovereign authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump announced that Iran had allowed 20 ships to transit the strait safely, in addition to 10 ships the prior week, and the White House said those passages were “a result of the direct and indirect talks that are taking place between the United States and Iran.” Still, Iran controls the critical waterway, which moves more than 20% of global oil, and oil prices remain above $100 a barrel — driving up U.S. gasoline prices ahead of the midterm elections. For the U.S., Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz is among nonnegotiable issues.
Rubio questioned who is actually making decisions in Iran, asking whether new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is truly in charge, saying, “No one has seen him. No one has heard from him. It’s very opaque right now. It’s not quite clear how decisions are being made inside of Iran.”
Trump said some diplomacy has involved Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and told the New York Post he would know “in about a week” whether Ghalibaf would cooperate with the Americans. Publicly, Ghalibaf has rejected the prospect of talks and issued threats, saying the enemy offers friendship while “secretly plotting a ground invasion” and vowing to punish regional partners.
Baghaei again denied direct U.S.-Iran negotiations, telling Iran’s PressTV that the U.S. proposals were “very excessive, unrealistic and irrational.”
At the White House briefing, Karoline Leavitt minimized Tehran’s public statements, saying the remaining elements of the Iranian regime are “increasingly eager to end the destruction and come to the negotiating table while they still can.” She added, “Despite all of the public posturing you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly is, of course, much different than what’s being communicated to us privately.”