Donald Trump has revealed he is in direct negotiations with a senior Iranian figure he described as « the most respected as the leader » of the country — while the man officially installed as Supreme Leader remains out of public sight following the airstrike that critically wounded him.
After holding what he described as « very good and productive conversations » with Tehran, Trump stood down the threatened assault on Iran’s power grid — telling reporters a deal was within reach and could materialise in as little as five days.
Trump made clear the individual he was speaking with was not Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was appointed Supreme Leader by the regime’s ruling clerics despite losing at least one leg and suffering serious internal injuries in the strike.
« No-one has heard from him, every once in a while we see a statement made but we don’t know if he’s living, » Trump said of Mojtaba.
Who is Trump talking to?
The identity of Trump’s Iranian interlocutor has been pieced together by Israeli intelligence. Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reports that the figure holding back-channel contact with Washington is parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — a hardliner whose CV reads like a roll call of the regime’s most controversial chapters.
He commanded the IRGC air force before entering politics, states the Sun, played a central role in suppressing the student uprising of July 1999, and has launched four unsuccessful bids for the presidency since 2005. Diplomatic sources reportedly say he could sit down with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Islamabad before the week is out.
Ghalibaf has publicly branded reports of negotiations as « fake news. »
In a post on what appears to be his X account, he said: « No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped. »
He said Iran demands the « complete and remorseful punishment of the aggressors », adding: « All Iranian officials stand firmly behind their supreme leader and people until this goal is achieved. »
Strait of Hormuz offer
In one of the most striking moments of the crisis, Trump mused aloud about carving out a joint arrangement with Tehran to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway has been effectively sealed since the war began, triggering an oil price surge that has taken crude from below $73 a barrel to $113 — wiping billions off stock markets and raising the spectre of a worldwide economic contraction.
« Maybe me, maybe me, » Trump said when asked who would oversee the strait, adding it could be open « real soon » if a deal was struck.
Mojtaba broke his silence on Monday in characteristically defiant terms, his first communication as Supreme Leader delivered through a female anchor on state television rather than in person. He committed to eventual victory and revenge for those killed in the conflict, and reaffirmed that the Strait of Hormuz would remain barred to shipping connected to Iran’s adversaries.
The physical toll on the new Supreme Leader is severe. Those with knowledge of his condition say he lost a leg in the strike and sustained grave damage to his abdominal organs.
The ceasefire in tone from Washington was not matched by its partner. Even as Trump announced a pause in planned strikes on Iranian energy sites, Israeli jets were already in the air over Tehran — a pointed reminder that the two allies do not always move in lockstep.
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