President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
Hours before President Donald Trump told Fox News of a backchannel between the U.S. and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei denied a weekend Axios report suggesting that Iraqi Kurdish authorities were acting as mediators between Washington and top IRGC commanders.
Baqaei described the report as "a media tactic and psychological operation" intended to sow division among Iran's decision-making bodies. "Such actions are carried out of desperation," he said.
"The report of a secret meeting between Iran and the United States in Erbil is completely fabricated," Baqaei said in his media presser Monday morning, as quoted by the state-run to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian
2 hours and 50 minutes ago
Trump threatens to bomb Oman over Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump threatened the Sultanate of Oman -- a longtime U.S. strategic partner and traditionally a key interlocutor in Middle Eastern negotiations -- on Monday, saying he will "bomb the s---" out of the country if it "gets in the way" of U.S. objectives in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also noted that there was no hurry on his part to conclude the war with Iran as the 60-day U.S.-Iranian memorandum of understanding expires.
In an interview with Fox News' Trey Yingst, Trump was asked about the status of talks between Iran and Oman over a potential deal regarding the Strait of Hormuz. "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s--- out of them," the president replied, according to Fox News' write-up.
President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One, on, Aug. 16, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo
A spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Monday that talks between the two countries were "continuing in earnest."
Trump's latest comments mark the second time Trump has threatened Oman over control of the Strait. In May, Trump told ABC News' Rachel Scott during a cabinet meeting that the Strait must not come under any nation's control and that he would take military action against Oman if necessary.
Trump also told Fox News that the U.S. was directly backchanneling with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "They're good poker players, but they're dying," Trump said of the IRGC. "I have no time schedule. I'm not in a hurry," he added.
Trump again dismissed concerns over U.S. munitions stockpiles. "What we've used so far is peanuts," Trump told Fox News.
-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr and Justin Gomez
3 hours and 56 minutes ago
Kushner-Netanyahu meeting underway, sources say
Two sources told ABC News on Monday that the planned meeting between President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was underway in Jerusalem.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
6:52 AM EDT
Trump says 'number one Goal' is preventing Iranian nuclear weapon
President Donald Trump said in a post to social media on Monday that his "number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon."
