In the fog of negotiations, the US, Israel, and Iran continue to fiercely attack each other.

The U.S. president sends conflicting signals; Iran’s speaker rejects “false news”; amid negotiation fog, the U.S. and Iran continue to launch fierce attacks against each other with Israel.

Comprehensive reports from CNN and Axios on August 23 said that after announcing it would “pause strikes on Iranian power plants for 5 days” and having “productive talks” with Iran, U.S. President Trump the same day also released a flurry of other signals to reporters regarding the Middle East situation.

According to his account, the U.S. and Iran reached “major consensus,” including Iran’s pledge not to have nuclear weapons and the Strait of Hormuz reopening soon. But the Tehran side has not confirmed these “consensuses.” In response to reports by some foreign media that the U.S. is holding talks with Iran’s Islamic parliamentary speaker Kalibaf, the latter also denied it.

Why did the U.S. release news about “talks with Iran” at this time? Is it a “sincere” attempt to find a way out of the current predicament, or is it meant to provide a buffer for an unstable market, or perhaps to cover up the next phase of military action? International media offered complex interpretations.

U.S. media: Israel was surprised by the U.S. statements on August 23

On August 23, Trump said the U.S. held talks with an Iranian “leader,” forming key points of an agreement; the other party is not Iran’s top leader. Israeli media reported on August 23 that the U.S. is in talks with Kalibaf. However, Axios cited people familiar with the matter as saying that on August 22 Egypt, Pakistan, and Türkiye acted as intermediaries, passing information between the U.S. and Iran, and tried to arrange a call between Kalibaf and the Trump team on August 23, but direct talks between the two sides apparently had not yet taken place.

The report cited an Israeli official as saying that some mediating countries are trying to get the U.S. and Iran to hold talks in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The U.S. representatives are the presidential special envoy Witkoff and Kushner, the president’s son-in-law; Vice President Vance may also take part. The meeting time could be later this week. The official also said that Israel was surprised by Trump’s remarks on August 23: “We don’t know things are moving this fast.”

Kalibaf on August 23 denied conducting any negotiations with the United States and believed that the purpose of spreading “false news” is to manipulate financial and oil markets, so as to help the United States and Israel escape the deep swamp they are stuck in. Iran’s Fars News Agency on August 23 cited a source saying that the fabricated news about Kalibaf and U.S. negotiations is aimed at, among other things, creating conditions for the assassination of Kalibaf, causing division within Iran, and stoking public sentiment.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei said on August 23 that over the past few days Iran received messages from some friendly countries regarding the U.S. request to end the war through negotiations, and that Iran had responded appropriately according to its principles and positions. He emphasized that for 24 days since the U.S. and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran, Iran and the U.S. have never held any negotiations or consultations.

On August 23, the U.S. “Political News” website cited anonymous government officials as saying that some people at the White House are indeed considering using Kalibaf as a potential dialogue “partner.” However, the White House wants to conduct “pressure tests” on multiple candidates first before finalizing the person it is willing to negotiate with. This approach by the U.S. also shows its “eagerness” to find a way out of the current predicament．．．．．．

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Edited by Guo Jian