Trump Hails ‘Very Good’ Iran Talks, Threatens Major Escalation if Tehran Rejects Deal

Trump said a new group of ’very reasonable' Iranian negotiators are involved and have accepted most of Washington’s 15-point cease-fire proposal.

People work to recover items from the site of a U.S.–Israeli strike on a commercial district in Tehran, Iran, on March 29, 2026. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran—both direct and indirect—are ongoing and making “very good” progress, and he has urged Tehran to take the deal or face destruction of its critical infrastructure; a spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry has denied that negotiations are taking place.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, Trump signaled his conviction that diplomacy is gathering pace alongside ongoing military operations that the president said have already led to “regime change” in Tehran.

He said U.S. diplomats are engaging a new group of Iranian officials and that Tehran has agreed to most elements of a 15-point U.S. proposal, which it had previously rejected in favor of its own five-point counteroffer.

“We’ve had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things they should have given us a long time ago,” Trump said. “See how it works out. But they’re very good, moving along very nicely.”

Trump said the United States is now engaging a new group of Iranian officials following weeks of intense strikes that have decimated much of Iran’s military leadership and infrastructure. He suggested that the shift in leadership has opened a potential pathway to a deal, saying that the current figures “seem to be much more reasonable” than their predecessors.

“It truly is regime change,” Trump said, referring to the cumulative impact of U.S. and Israeli operations targeting senior Iranian officials.

In a post on social media on March 30, Trump said Washington is in “serious discussions” with Iran’s “more reasonable” regime, urging Tehran’s new leaders to reach an agreement and reopen the Strait of Hormuz—or face the prospect of destruction of Iran’s energy and oil infrastructure, along with possible strikes against its water desalination plants.

“If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ’stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells, and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!),” Trump wrote.

Iran Denies Talks Taking Place

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on March 30 that Tehran has held no direct talks with the United States and dismissed as baseless claims that it has accepted Washington’s proposals.

In remarks at a news conference cited by state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, Baqaei said Iran has not had any direct negotiations with the United States so far. He said the only thing discussed to date has been messages received through intermediaries indicating Washington’s desire for talks, with Baqaei describing the U.S. proposal as excessive and unreasonable.

Iran has consistently publicly denied that formal negotiations are taking place. Previously, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said exchanges via third-country mediators do not constitute talks, describing them as merely an “exchange of messages.”

Trump has dismissed the Iranian denials, saying that Iranian negotiators are afraid to admit to discussions out of fear for their lives.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has acted as an intermediary, conveying Washington’s proposal and offering to host negotiations, with Iranian officials indicating that talks could take place in Pakistan or Turkey. On March 29, foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt met in Islamabad to explore ways to end the conflict.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, Trump expressed cautious optimism about the prospects for a diplomatic settlement.

“I think we'll make a deal with them, pretty sure, but it’s possible we won’t,” Trump said, noting that multiple layers of Iranian leadership have been eliminated and that the current group of leaders seems “to be much more reasonable.”

“We’re doing extremely well in that negotiation,” Trump said.

“But you never know where they’re at, because we negotiate with them, and then we always have to blow them up,” he said, referring to the ongoing U.S.–Israeli military campaign.

Terms of Competing Proposals

Although full details of the U.S. proposal remain undisclosed, Israeli officials told Epoch Magazine in Israel that it requires Iran to end uranium enrichment, dismantle key nuclear facilities, and accept oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as limits on missile capabilities and support for regional proxy forces.

“They gave us most of the points ... and just to prove that they’re serious, they gave us all of these boats,” Trump said, referring to oil tankers Iran would allow to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively restricted amid the conflict.

Iran’s counterproposal calls for an immediate halt to U.S. and Israeli attacks, guarantees against future conflict, war reparations, a region-wide cease-fire—including proxy forces—and international recognition of its claims over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy choke point handling roughly 20 percent of global oil and gas shipments.

Trump said on March 29 that Iran agreed to allow about 20 tankers to pass through the strait in the coming days or weeks as a “sign of respect” in negotiations.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar similarly said Tehran had agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels safe passage, calling it a gesture of goodwill. Dar said officials meeting in Islamabad on March 29 discussed “possible ways to bring an early and permanent end to the war in the region,” including the prospect of U.S.–Iran talks hosted in Pakistan.

In his remarks to reporters on March 30, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Tehran’s position is that as long as it faces attacks, it will remain focused not on talks but on defending itself. Although Baqaei welcomed efforts from regional countries to end the war, he said Pakistan’s initiative was its own initiative, and Iran was not taking part.

Global oil prices have surged amid continued fighting, pushing crude to more than $115 per barrel over the weekend.

Crude was about $72 per barrel on Feb. 27—just before U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran—but has since surged as fears of disruption and a wider conflict intensify.

Fresh concerns over the weekend included the risk of a U.S. ground invasion and deeper involvement by Iran-aligned Houthi terrorist group forces. Iran has warned against a potential U.S. ground offensive.

The United States has moved additional forces into the region, although Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 27 that the deployments are meant to prepare for contingencies, not signal an imminent ground offensive.