Iran's Revolutionary Guards call Trump a 'big liar'

US President Donald Trump has denied a media report suggesting he offered possible sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for acknowledging its nuclear program. "That is untrue. I offered THEM NOTHING!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform regarding an Axios article. He called on the media to retract the "false reporting". Axios had cited unnamed US officials who said Trump was willing to ease sanctions on Iran and unfreeze Iranian funds if Tehran took concrete steps on its nuclear program.

Mediators from Qatar and Pakistan were to meet this week to discuss an accord between the US and Iran. It was expected that Qatarian mediators would meet with US representatives by Tuesday to discuss the proposal. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghtchi hoped for a "final answer" from the US government on the draft proposal by Tuesday.

Trump previously dismissed a proposal by Iran to reopen the Hormuz Strait, a key oil transport route, which Iran's Foreign Minister Araghtchi said Teheran had sent to Washington via Doha. The proposal reportedly included the US fulfilling certain requirements first, such as lifting its sea blockade. Before the US-Iran war, launched by the US and Israel in late February, shipping in the Strait of Hormuz was largely unimpeded.

It carried about a fifth of global oil demand and transported liquefied natural gas and fertilizer. Shortly after the war began, Iran threatened and attacked shipping, severely disrupting the Strait of Hormuz and causing global oil and gas prices to surge. The US responded to Iran's blockade of the Strait with its own blockade of Iranian ports to economically pressure the country.