Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks at a press convention in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 2, 2025.
Shadati | Xinhua Information Company | Getty Pictures
Iran’s chief negotiator has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of staging “theater diplomacy,” as Washington and Tehran provide conflicting accounts of bilateral engagement geared toward ending the months-long hostilities.
“‘Huge assault coming … wait, by no means thoughts, they need to negotiate.’ That is theater diplomacy on loop,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and prime negotiator, wrote in a publish on X on Thursday in an obvious jibe at Trump.
The remarks got here days after Trump known as off deliberate strikes and stated the outlines of a deal had already been settled with Tehran. Iranian officers have rejected the declare, saying no talks have been underway.
The battle is in the meantime broadening throughout the area, with Gulf vitality infrastructure and key delivery chokepoints underneath renewed menace.
Saudi Arabia is bracing for “a number of coordinated assaults” by Iraqi militia factions working with Iran-backed Houthis, a Saudi official instructed CNN. Intelligence stories from Saudi Arabia and regional governments reportedly indicated that the teams deliberate to strike the dominion “within the very close to future” underneath the steering of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The warning got here a day after the Houthis claimed accountability for assaults on two Saudi oil tankers within the Gulf of Aden, one other important delivery chokepoint. Saudi Arabia has come underneath Houthi missile fireplace and drone assaults by Iran-backed Iraqi militias in latest weeks.
Transport via the area’s two important chokepoints has fallen sharply in latest days. Solely two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from eight a day earlier, in accordance with Kpler vessel-tracking knowledge, in opposition to a pre-war baseline of roughly 130 to 140 every day transits. Visitors via the Bab el-Mandeb collapsed to a single dry bulk service, from 20 vessels the day before today.
Flows through Hormuz are unlikely to return to pre-war ranges anytime quickly, even after a deal is reached between Oman and Iran for managing visitors through the important waterway.
U.S. and Israeli ships could be barred from the Strait of Hormuz underneath a draft plan involving Iran and Oman for managing the waterway, Tehran’s semi-official Fars information company reported Thursday, with restrictions extending to nations which have “brought on harm” to Iran, till compensation is paid.
Iran additionally plans to difficulty penalties of as much as 20% of the worth of the cargo of those that violate the phrases of the settlement, which is at present underneath evaluate, in accordance with Fars.
Oil jumped on indicators of Tehran’s hardening stance on the Hormuz visitors. Brent crude futures for October supply gained 1.3% to $83.55 a barrel, whereas September futures for WTI crude rose about 1.1% to $78.17 on Friday, extending losses from a day earlier and reversing an earlier slide pushed by transient optimism {that a} Hormuz deal was days away.
Earlier, regional officers stated that Iran and Oman have been near finalizing a framework masking all inbound visitors through Iranian territorial waters in addition to outbound visitors via a route nearer to Oman, although the association wouldn’t robotically reopen the waterway.
In a Reality Social publish on Thursday, Trump pushed again on stories that U.S. munitions shares have been depleted by the battle. “The U.S. has large quantities of ‘munitions,’ particularly of sure sorts,” he stated, vowing to pursue “long-term jail sentences” for leakers.
CNN reported later within the day that, within the Oval Workplace, Trump acknowledged that sure munitions are in “tighter” provide, whereas insisting less-advanced weapons stay in just about limitless provide.
