Donald Trump said there are "very friendly negotiations going on" about the independent conflict with Iran while the warring sides went a third straight day without exchanging strikes. Speaking aboard Air Force One on Monday, he said there was "a good chance that something could happen" and tied the pause to talks he said could still move forward.
Trump also warned that Washington would "go back to doing what we were doing" if the latest negotiations failed. The pause followed nearly two weeks of daily US strikes and tit-for-tat attacks, a pace that had already pulled the fighting across the Strait of Hormuz and into the wider Middle East.
Air Force One remarks
Trump said he decided to pause US strikes on Iran on Friday because mediating countries had asked him to give the talks another chance. He did not identify the mediators, but his comments set out the immediate logic behind the lull: stop firing long enough to see whether a diplomatic opening can hold.
He also rejected reports that US ammunition stocks were running low. On the presidential plane, he said, "We have a lot of ammunition. We have a lot of the mid-level stuff too, more than we could ever use, no matter what," and added, "But we have a lot. I'd like to have more."
Tehran denial
Tehran denied that any direct negotiations were taking place, creating a sharp gap between Trump’s account and Iran’s public position. That leaves the shape of the talks unresolved even as the strike pause continues, with the two sides still describing the same moment in different terms.
Trump’s account comes after the US and Israel launched their strikes against Iran on 28 February. In June, Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding to stop military operations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with a goal of reaching an agreement to end the war over the following 60 days. After Iranian forces attacked tankers in the waterway on 13 July, Washington resumed air strikes against Iran and reinstated its naval blockade of the country's ports.
Strikes, oil and munitions
The US military said its strikes were aimed to "degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz". The conflict has since killed four American soldiers in attacks on US military facilities and bases across the Middle East, while Iran’s health ministry said the US strikes have killed dozens of people. Oil prices fell by more than 9% to $87.59 a barrel at one point on Monday.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the US military "has more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump's strategic goals and beyond" and that "Operation Epic Fury has exposed what happens when you mess with the United States." She added that the president has urged defence contractors to keep producing more made-in-America weapons, including Patriots. For readers following the conflict, the near-term question is whether the lull holds long enough for talks to produce a concrete deal or whether the fighting returns to the pattern Trump described.
