Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported Monday afternoon that the Iranian team negotiating with the United States is halting the exchange of messages with Washington through mediators because of Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
According to the report by Tasnim, which is considered close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and more hardline elements within Iran’s ruling establishment, “there will be no talks until Iran’s demands for a halt to Israeli operations in Lebanon and Gaza are met.” The agency also reported that Iran is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in Lebanon.
The report appears to reflect an effort by Tehran to underscore its intention to link any future agreement ending its conflict with the United States to a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which would restrict the Israel Defense Forces’ freedom of action in Lebanon and allow the Shiite group to continue operating there.
Tasnim’s report Monday followed a separate report by the agency Sunday, citing “a source familiar with the matter,” which said Tehran would seek to introduce its own amendments to the draft agreement with the United States. The move reportedly comes in response to changes President Donald Trump made to the draft, changes that effectively hardened the version he is prepared to accept.
In Sunday’s report, the source referred to those revisions by Trump and said: “The exchange of texts is continuing, and Iran will also make its own revisions. Nothing is final yet.”
According to the report, the Iranian source stressed that Trump’s decision to amend the text does not mean Iran will accept those changes.
“The criterion for Iran is a text that we ourselves accept,” the source said. The source also reiterated Iran’s repeated warnings that it is prepared for a renewal of hostilities. “Iran is fully prepared for a situation in which no understandings are reached,” he said.
Those remarks came after Trump himself warned the previous night, in an interview with Fox News, that although he prefers to reach an agreement, he is prepared to resume military action if the talks fail.
“We’re close to a very good deal,” Trump said in the interview, which aired on a program hosted by Lara Trump, the wife of his son Eric. However, he added that if the United States “doesn’t get what it wants,” it will “end it in a different way.”
The U.S.-Iran talks had appeared in recent days to be entering their final stage. Last week, reports indicated that representatives of both sides had reached agreement on a draft memorandum of understanding that would end the war, including in Lebanon, although the precise wording remains unclear, and the proposal may involve only a 60-day extension of the ceasefire with Tehran.
The memorandum would also include the lifting of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the gradual removal of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and relief from some sanctions imposed on Iran.
The memorandum would not resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, it would open a 60-day period during which the parties would negotiate a final agreement addressing the disposition of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and the scope of future restrictions on Tehran’s ability to enrich additional uranium.
However, amid a range of disagreements — including commitments Trump hoped to secure in advance regarding limits on Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s demand for the immediate release of at least $12 billion of its frozen assets upon signing the memorandum — the talks have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.
On Friday, Trump announced that he was convening his senior advisers in the White House Situation Room to make a “final decision.” According to reports, however, no such decision was reached after two hours of discussions.
On Saturday, it was reported that Trump was angered by the fact that final approval for the agreement had not been obtained from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and therefore instructed officials to inform the Iranians that he was introducing several amendments to the draft.
First published: 16:43, 06.01.26