Since Israel launched its first wave of missiles last week, the president has maintained publicly that Iran should come to the table to strike a deal with the United States, while privately urging his team to keep lines of communication open with the Iranians and Iranian intermediaries.
In conversations with European leaders at the G7 summit in Canada, Trump told his counterparts that discussions were underway to obtain a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran, and signaled he wanted US officials to meet their Iranian counterparts this week.
A US official told CNN that while nothing was set, Israel and Iran were moving in the right direction.
Trump acknowledged that the Iranians had been in touch through intermediaries earlier Monday. Tehran has yet responded to the claim.
“I think Iran basically is at the negotiating table, they want to make a deal,” Trump stated, before his team announced he would depart Canada early to return to Washington to monitor the situation.
He was less candid about what his plans could be should those diplomatic efforts fall short, including whether he would deploy US military assets to join Israel in attempting to dismantle Iran’s nuclear facilities.
As of Monday evening, the White House insisted the US had not joined Israel in attacking Iran.
“American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed. We will defend American interests,” Alex Pfeiffer, a White House spokesman, wrote on X.
Iranian officials stressed that the Israeli onslaught against Iran with the help of the US has practically made the course of negotiations between Tehran and Washington meaningless.
