Iran Peace Talks Collapse Within Hours as Trump Calls Tehran 'Duplicitous'

Here's the whiplash: over the weekend, Trump said he'd called off what he described as the "biggest attack since World War II" on Iran, saying Gulf allies and Iran itself had asked him to give diplomacy a shot. He told reporters a deal was basically done — reopening the Strait of Hormuz, then eventually winding down Iran's nuclear program — and that formal talks would restart Monday afternoon. Sounded like real progress after nearly six months of on-and-off war.

Then Monday happened. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman flatly said there were no U.S.-Iran talks planned at all — Tehran said it was only negotiating with Oman about a temporary safe route through the Strait, nothing more. Trump fired back on Truth Social, calling Iran's leadership "Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!" He accused them of begging for a meeting and then publicly denying it happened. He also insisted, in Trump fashion, that this is Iran's "last chance" to sign a deal, while contradictorily adding he's in no rush because he has no time constraints on negotiations because he's not seeking reelection. When a reporter pushed him on why this time would be different given he's threatened and backed off attacks before, he said, "I want to give them every last chance before decapitation."

Why does this matter to you? A couple reasons. First, oil: oil prices fell after Trump said he canceled the strikes, so any escalation-de-escalation cycle like this one directly moves gas prices — and Trump himself said oil companies are "making too much money" during the war. Second, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important oil shipping chokepoints, and it's still effectively jammed — ship traffic through the waterway remains stuck at a fraction of its prewar averages despite Trump's claim the U.S. fully controls it. Third, this isn't a one-off — Trump has repeatedly threatened big attacks and then canceled them citing progress in talks — only for the diplomacy to be upended by the two sides resuming tit-for-tat strikes. That pattern means markets, allies, and everyday people trying to gauge the risk of a wider Middle East war keep getting yanked between hope and alarm within 48-hour windows.

Iran, for its part, isn't just being cagey for no reason — its Foreign Ministry spokesman said the US had "violated all of its commitments" in June when the ceasefire fell apart, suggesting real trust issues on both sides after a previous truce collapsed. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has kept up a blockade posture, and separately, Trump's team is also trying to manage a shaky Gaza ceasefire, with Israel saying it will keep striking any perceived threats. Bottom line: the war isn't over, the diplomacy is more rumor than reality right now, and the next few days of Trump's self-imposed deadline are worth watching if you care about gas prices or global stability.