• US president says negotiations are underway, remains hopeful of a breakthrough
• Tehran denies ‘begging’ for talks; warns Kyiv of ‘unforeseen consequences’ over Caspian Sea escalation
• Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reel from drone attacks; Houthis claim targeting Red Sea oil pipeline
• Pakistan condemns attacks on Saudi targets, reaffirms backing for Riyadh
• PM meets Chinese envoy
TEHRAN / WASHINGTON: As the US and Iran held back from directly attacking each other on Monday, President Donald Trump claimed that both sides were having ‘good talks’, and remained hopeful of a positive outcome.
Despite the positive tone, however, he warned that strikes would resume if the negotiations failed to deliver.
“We’re talking right now,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We’re having good talks... I think there’s a good chance that something could happen, and if it does, good, if it doesn’t, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.”
Separately, when asked by US outlet Axios how long he was willing to give for talks, Trump responded” “Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all”.
His comments came after Iran publicly said it was not seeking to resume peace talks with the US. Behind the scenes, however, diplomatic efforts continue to bring the two sides closer to an armistice.
Washington’s UN ambassador had said on Sunday that Trump had paused the bombing campaign to allow room for negotiations. The president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials have also claimed that Iran has been “begging for a deal”.
But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in a televised press conference on Monday that his country had not asked to resume peace talks with the United States.
Messages were still being passed between the sides through mediators and Iran had not forsaken diplomacy, but “reports about Iran requesting negotiations with the US are fabricated,” Baghaei insisted. “This is not in our DNA.”
Tehran also indicated it was still in control of the Strait of Hormuz. Several Iranian state media outlets cited an “informed source” as saying that Iran had turned around six “offending ships” on Monday morning that had attempted to cross the strait without its permission. One of the vessels, the source said, had had “an accident”.
“As previously announced, the traffic route in the Strait of Hormuz is the route specified by Iran, and other routes are contaminated and have no way out,” the Iranian state media reports quoted the source as saying.
Trump also dismissed concerns that US ammunition stockpiles are running low after five months of bombing Iran, telling reporters: “We have a lot.”
Asked aboard Air Force One if he was concerned about munitions being depleted, Trump 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. “
Attacks across Gulf
In contrast to the US president’s remarks, Iran appeared to quickly test the pause in the US military campaign, with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reporting drone attacks on Monday.
Riyadh said it shot down drones aimed at petroleum targets, including in the capital Riyadh. It said the drones had been launched from Iraq by Iran-backed armed groups, and it reserved the right to respond.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen also said they had targeted the 1,200-km East-West Pipeline carrying oil to Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea port of Yanbu, in retaliation for what they termed Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace.
Earlier, Jordan reported shooting down two drones, and Iraqi security sources reported a series of drone attacks on camps housing Iranian opposition Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. Officials did not identify the sources of those drones.
On Monday, Iran also warned Ukraine of “unforeseen” consequences following an attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea over the weekend.
“This action by Ukraine was an absolutely illegal and unjustified act, contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, as well as a dangerous act of adventurism that will certainly not go unanswered by us,” the ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had confirmed that Kyiv targeted Iranian vessels in the Caspian Sea over the weekend. “The Ukrainian regime must certainly be held accountable for it,” Baqaei said.
On Monday, Pakistan condemned the drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, with the Foreign Office saying that such provocative attacks pose a grave threat to peace and stability across the entire region.
Islamabad, which has a mutual defence pact with the kingdom, “stands in solidarity with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reaffirms its strong and unwavering support for [its] sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peace and prosperity”.
Meanwhile, consultations between mediators continued, as PM Shehbaz Sharif met with Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad. According to the PM Office, the regional situation, the including Middle East conflict and Afghanistan, came under discussion at the meeting.
The prime minister conveyed his warm regards and greetings to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. He reaffirmed the Pakistan-China All Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, while fondly recalling his visit to China in May this year.
He said both sides would continue working closely to implement the important decisions and agreements between the leadership of the two countries, for the mutual benefit of their peoples.
Syed Irfan Raza in Islamabad also contributed to this report. With input from Agencies / Monitoring Desk
Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2026