A report published on Monday stated that President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, reached out to Iranian officials to restart talks, but Tehran did not respond. This situation adds confusion to conflicting public accounts about whether any diplomacy is ongoing between the two sides.
Drop Site News reported that Witkoff sent messages last week to officials in Tehran, including Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to explore the possibility of resuming negotiations. The outlet, citing two Iranian officials, said Iran chose not to answer and also received messages from the White House through third countries.
“Because of decisions made by Iran’s top authorities, no response was sent to his messages,” a senior Iranian official told Drop Site, according to the report. The same official said Iran had once again closed the window for any direct negotiations and added that the authority to declare a ceasefire rests only with the country’s supreme leader.
The White House disputed the report. In a statement quoted by Drop Site, a spokesperson called the story “pure fiction” and said reports based on unnamed sources should be discarded immediately.
Q: How do you see this war ending?
Steve Witkoff: I don’t know. pic.twitter.com/9SiL3gqGRR
— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 10, 2026
Hours later, Reuters reported that Araghchi publicly denied any recent direct contact with Witkoff. “My last contact with Mr. Witkoff was prior to his employer’s decision to kill diplomacy with another illegal military attack on Iran,” Araghchi wrote on X, according to Reuters. He added, “Any claim to the contrary appears geared solely to mislead oil traders and the public.”
Axios, citing a U.S. official and another source with knowledge of the matter, reported a different version. That report said a direct channel between Witkoff and Araghchi had resumed in recent days, and that Araghchi sent text messages focused on ending the war. After Araghchi denied that account, Axios reported that a U.S. official accused him of lying and said he initiated the contact.
President Trump said he bombed Iran on the counsel of Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Pete Hegseth, and others.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/QsFs32HEWs
— AF Post (@AFpost) March 10, 2026
Trump also suggested Monday that some communication had taken place but questioned whether the people involved could negotiate on Iran’s behalf. According to Axios, Trump told reporters, “They want to make a deal. They are talking to our people. We have people wanting to negotiate, but we have no idea who they are.” He also said he was not opposed to talks, “because sometimes good things come out of it.”
Reuters noted that the contradictory claims emerged more than two weeks after the United States and Israel began their war on Iran on February 28. The conflict has resulted in numerous deaths in Iran, triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on Israel and Gulf countries hosting U.S. bases, and increased oil prices while unsettling global markets.
The differing accounts leave the state of any backchannel diplomacy uncertain. Drop Site described a failed U.S. attempt to reopen talks. Axios mentioned at least some renewed direct contact. Iran’s foreign minister outright denied that any such exchange occurred after the war began.
Currently, there is one point of agreement in the public record: both Washington and Tehran are still discussing negotiations publicly, even though they cannot agree on whether they are communicating privately.
