President Donald Trump on Monday stated the U.S. is engaged in severe talks with a “new” and “extra cheap” regime in Iran because the war enters its fifth week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, throughout an look on “Good Morning America,” declined to say who precisely the U.S. is negotiating with.
“Properly, I am not going to confide in you who these persons are, as a result of it most likely would get them in hassle with another teams of individuals inside Iran. Look, there’s some fractures happening there internally,” Rubio stated.
“And if there are new individuals now in cost who’ve a extra cheap imaginative and prescient of the long run, that will be excellent news for us, for them, for all the world,” the secretary continued. “However we additionally must be ready for the chance, possibly even the likelihood that that isn’t the case.”
When pushed for extra readability, Rubio stated, “You’ve individuals there which can be saying a few of the proper issues privately.”
“However on the finish of the day, now we have to see if these individuals find yourself being those in cost, seeing in the event that they’re those which have the facility to ship. We will check it. We’re hopeful that’s the case,” he went on. “There are clearly individuals there speaking to us in ways in which earlier individuals in cost in Iran haven’t spoken to us previously.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with ABC Information on Good Morning America, March 30, 2026.
ABC Information
Iranian officers have denied any direct talks with the U.S., saying that messages have been handed by means of intermediaries. Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesman for Iran’s International Ministry, stated Monday, “We now have not had any negotiations with America.”
The U.S. offered Iran with a 15-point framework for a peace deal by the use of Pakistan final week. Baqaei commented on the U.S. proposal throughout a press convention Monday.
“The knowledge that has been conveyed to us [from the US], no matter what title you need to give it, as 15 articles or no matter you name it, concerned numerous requests which can be extreme, unrealistic, and illogical,” Baqaei stated.
Pakistan’s International Minister Ishaq Dar stated on Sunday that the nation would host talks between the U.S. and Iran “within the coming days.” There has not been affirmation from both Iran or the U.S. on when precisely these talks would happen or who might be concerned for both facet.
Trump on Sunday advised reporters he might “see a deal” being made with Iran quickly, although “it is attainable we can’t.”
The president advised talks have been shifting in a optimistic course as a result of Iran allowed 20 oil tankers to go by means of the essential Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has successfully blocked to worldwide transport site visitors after the U.S. and Israel launched assaults on the nation final month.
Trump on Monday continued to tout progress but in addition threatened main U.S. assaults on Tehran’s power infrastructure and extra if a diplomatic off-ramp is not reached.
“The USA of America is in severe discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to finish our Navy Operations in Iran,” he wrote in a publish to his social media platform.
“Nice progress has been made however, if for any purpose a deal will not be shortly reached, which it most likely might be, and if the Hormuz Strait will not be instantly ‘Open for Enterprise,’ we’ll conclude our pretty ‘keep’ in Iran by blowing up and fully obliterating all of their Electrical Producing Crops, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and probably all desalinization crops!), which now we have purposefully not but ‘touched,'” the president posted.
Final week, Trump extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the strait twice. Trump stated the U.S. would proceed a pause on power web site assaults till subsequent Monday, April 6.
President Donald Trump talks to members of the media aboard Air Drive One en path to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, March 29, 2026.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Trump has not dominated out utilizing floor troops in Iran. Consultants say troops could be used to grab Iran’s nuclear materials or Kharg Island, the nation’s major oil export hub.
“I simply have a number of options,” Trump stated on Sunday.
Extra U.S. service members have arrived in the Middle East, together with roughly 3,500 sailors and Marines with the thirty first Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that he desires the U.S. to “take the oil in Iran.”
“Possibly we take Kharg Island, possibly we don’t. We now have plenty of choices,” Trump advised the information outlet.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pressed Rubio on Monday about how the president would go about taking Kharg Island and whether or not it could require American troops on the bottom.
Rubio was noncommittal, however stated once more that Iran’s threats about controlling the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity wanted to be addressed.
“That is not going to be allowed to occur. And the president has a lot of choices out there to him, if he so chooses, to forestall that from occurring,” Rubio stated.
“There’s a method ahead right here. We’re going to obtain our goals in a matter of weeks, not months.”
ABC Information’ Nicholas Kerr, Emily Chang and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.
