Riyadh, March 24 — Arab News, citing Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth, reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is open to negotiations with the United States. Yedioth said the report is based on a conversation between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. intermediary Steve Witkoff that was approved at the highest levels in Tehran.
An earlier statement from an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims about talks with Tehran, saying Iran had not engaged in negotiations with Washington during the first 24 days of the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran.
President Trump has suggested that the Strait of Hormuz — a critical shipping lane — would be “open very soon” if talks with Tehran are successful. Speaking to reporters in Florida, he said he envisaged the strait being managed jointly, adding, “It’ll be jointly controlled. Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is, whoever the next Ayatollah is.”
The Strait of Hormuz normally handles about 15 million barrels per day of crude oil and 5 million barrels per day of oil products, roughly 25 percent of global seaborne oil trade. The recent regional fighting has raised the perceived risk to the waterway and strained global energy supplies.
Trump also said early strikes had targeted much of Iran’s senior leadership and warned a significant regime change was likely, stating, “And there’ll also be a very serious form of regime change. There’s automatically a regime change.” He described some of the people involved in the contacts as “very reasonable, very solid” and said those participants are respected figures who might align with U.S. objectives.
Earlier, Trump said he instructed the U.S. Department of War to delay any military action against Iranian power plants and energy sites for five days, citing ongoing diplomatic engagements with Tehran. In a Truth Social post he said the United States and Iran had held “very good and productive conversations” over two days aimed at resolving regional hostilities, and that the talks would continue through the week.
The conflict between the U.S.-Israel coalition and Iran has entered its fourth week, with effects beyond West Asia and the Gulf as concerns grow over global energy security, supply bottlenecks, and damage to civilian, military and energy infrastructure.
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