Ghalibaf leading Iran talks with US, Jerusalem Post says


Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf is leading talks with the United States, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday, citing a source.
The report said Ghalibaf is heading negotiations between Tehran and Washington as the two sides discuss a possible deal.
US President Donald Trump said earlier that talks with Iran involved “top” leadership, but did not identify specific individuals.
The Jerusalem Post report pointed to Ghalibaf as the key figure representing Iran in the discussions.







US President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed talks with Iran could lead to a deal that ensures long-term peace for Israel, while signaling uncertainty over the whereabouts of Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump told reporters that Israel would likely support any agreement reached with Tehran, adding that recent contacts with Israeli officials had been positive.
“I think Israel will be very happy with what we have,” Trump said. “This will be peace for Israel - long-term peace, guaranteed peace if this happens.”
He said Iran had initiated contact and showed willingness to negotiate, though he stressed any deal must prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Trump says Iran must give up nuclear ambitions
Trump said the central condition of any agreement would be that Iran abandon its nuclear program.
“They’re not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They’re agreeing to that,” he said.
He added that if a deal is reached, the United States would take control of Iran’s enriched uranium. “We’ll go down and we’ll take it ourselves,” he said.
Trump also said he believed recent US military strikes had significantly set back Iran’s nuclear capabilities, warning that without such action Tehran could have developed a weapon within weeks.
“If we didn’t hit them … they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks to a month,” he said.
Trump signals openness to oil flows despite sanctions questions
The president said he supported allowing Iranian oil already at sea to enter global markets, arguing that increasing supply would help stabilize the system.
“I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible,” Trump said, adding it was unclear how much revenue Iran would ultimately receive.
“Any small amount of money that Iran gets is not going to have any difference in this war,” he said.
Trump says Mojtaba Khamenei ‘unavailable’
Trump said Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s supreme leader, was “unavailable,” adding that his status was unclear.
“Khamenei’s son is unavailable. Nobody knows what happened to him,” Trump said. “Something is going on with him.”
He said he did not view Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s main leader but noted that several Iranian leadership groups had been targeted.
Trump points to possible political change in Iran
Trump suggested that a form of political transition could emerge in Iran, saying many senior figures had been removed.
“There’s automatically a regime change,” he said, while adding that the United States was in contact with individuals he described as “reasonable” and “respected.”
He also said oil prices could fall sharply if an agreement is reached.
“The price of oil will drop like a rock as soon as a deal is done,” Trump said.
Trump says deal is possible but not guaranteed
Trump said negotiations were ongoing and expressed cautious optimism about the outcome.
“We have a very serious chance of making a deal,” he said. “I think if I were a betting man, I’d bet for it. But again, I’m not guaranteeing anything.”
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran had reached out to Washington for talks ahead of planned strikes on its energy infrastructure.
“They called, I didn’t call. They want to make a deal, and we are very willing to make a deal,” Trump said.
He said the United States had been prepared to strike major Iranian power plants, adding: “We were expected to blow up their largest electric generating plants… why would they want that?”
Trump said any deal would require Iran to abandon nuclear weapons, saying: “They’re not going to have nuclear weapons anymore… any of that stuff is no deal.”
He also said the US could take control of Iran’s enriched uranium if an agreement is reached: “If we have a deal with them, we’re going down and we’ll take it ourselves.”
Trump described Iran as “a country that has been evil for 47 years,” adding it had caused “death all over the world” and remained a longstanding threat.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and Iran have “major points of agreement” following recent discussions.
“We have had strong talks,” Trump said, adding that “they want to make a deal, we want to make a deal too.”
He said talks continued into Sunday evening and involved officials including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Trump added that “if they carry through, will end conflict,” but said “we’ll see where talks lead.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran was in a weakened position compared to Israel, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of talks with Tehran, Israeli outlet Bhol reported.
“We are working to bring Israel to places it has never been, and Iran to places it has never been. They are down, we are up,” Netanyahu said ahead of a briefing to a parliamentary intelligence subcommittee.
His remarks came after Trump said the United States and Iran had held “very good and productive” talks on resolving hostilities and ordered a five-day pause on planned strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure.
CNBC host Joe Kernen said US President Donald Trump described ongoing contacts with Iran as effectively amounting to “regime change,” according to remarks on air.
Kernen said Trump told him the talks were not with a single leader but with “representatives,” adding Iran presents itself as having a broader structure.
He said Trump “went on to say, or insist that this is regime change, because it’s totally different people that were involved.”