Trump Claims Khamenei Involved in US Talks, Says Iran Agreed No Nukes

President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is personally involved in negotiations with the United States and that Tehran has agreed it will not build a nuclear weapon, according to The Guardian’s live coverage. The assertions came hours after the US struck Iran’s Qeshm Island and Iran retaliated with missiles and drones that hit Kuwait International Airport, killing at least one person and wounding 63 others.

Trump did not provide evidence that Khamenei had communicated a no-weapons commitment directly, and Tehran has not confirmed his account. Iran’s negotiating posture has historically been set by the supreme leader’s office but conducted through intermediaries — most recently Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. A claim of Khamenei’s direct involvement, if accurate, would represent a significant elevation of the diplomatic channel at a moment when the military situation is actively deteriorating.

What Trump said

The president told reporters that Iran had agreed not to pursue a nuclear weapon and that the supreme leader was part of the negotiating process, The Guardian reported. The claim builds on a pattern of optimistic public statements from the White House about the trajectory of talks — Trump said last week that a deal was “largely negotiated” — that Tehran has repeatedly rejected or declined to confirm.

The no-nuclear-weapon assertion is particularly notable given Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony to lawmakers just one day earlier, in which he said Iran had shown a new willingness to discuss “aspects of its nuclear programme” but stopped well short of describing any agreement. The gap between Rubio’s carefully hedged language before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Trump’s flat declaration of a no-weapons commitment leaves open the question of whether the president is describing a concrete diplomatic development or projecting a desired outcome.

The military backdrop

The diplomatic claims arrived against a violent backdrop. Overnight, the US military struck a communications tower on Iran’s Qeshm Island at the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, which US Central Command described as a self-defense action targeting a ground control station, according to Al Jazeera. Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at US installations in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The most consequential strike hit Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal One, killing at least one person and wounding 63 others, according to Middle East Monitor. Iran accused the US of using bases in Kuwait and Bahrain to launch the Qeshm Island attack, framing its retaliation as a response to American operations staged from allied territory.

The juxtaposition of Trump’s optimism about Khamenei’s involvement and the overnight exchange of fire illustrates the central tension of the conflict: diplomatic rhetoric and military operations are running on separate and often contradictory tracks. Trump has consistently described talks as progressing even as both sides trade strikes — a pattern that has persisted since the 60-day ceasefire framework was announced but never signed.

China and international reaction

China’s Foreign Ministry expressed “deep concern” over the escalation on Tuesday and called on both sides to honor the ceasefire, urging against renewed warfare, Middle East Monitor reported. Beijing has maintained a posture of studied neutrality throughout the conflict but has economic interests in uninterrupted Gulf oil flows that make any further escalation a direct concern.

The Chinese statement adds to a growing chorus of international calls for de-escalation that have done little to change the operational calculus on either side. The Foreign Policy analysis published Tuesday argued that ceasefire frameworks retain value even when repeatedly violated, because they create political costs for escalation and provide an architecture to which both sides can return. That argument is being tested in real time: the unsigned 60-day ceasefire framework remains the only diplomatic document on the table, and both Washington and Tehran have publicly committed to its principles while carrying out strikes that undermine it.

The Netanyahu variable

Trump also confirmed Tuesday that he was “perturbed” at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s conduct in Lebanon, Middle East Eye reported. The remark follows the administration’s direct intervention last week to block Israeli strikes on Beirut and underscores the degree to which the Lebanon front continues to complicate the Iran diplomatic track.

Iran has repeatedly conditioned any ceasefire with the US on a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. Tehran halted its indirect message exchange with Washington after Israeli strikes on Dahieh earlier this month, treating the Lebanon and nuclear-Hormuz tracks as a single negotiation. Trump’s public irritation with Netanyahu signals that the White House sees the same linkage and is struggling to manage an ally whose military operations keep threatening the broader diplomatic architecture.

What the claims mean

Trump’s assertion that Khamenei is directly involved and that Iran has agreed not to build a nuclear weapon is, if true, the most significant diplomatic development of the conflict. Khamenei’s personal involvement would signal that any agreement carries the authority of the one person in Iran’s system who can actually deliver it. A no-weapons commitment, verified and enforceable, would address the core demand Rubio outlined in his Senate testimony.

But the claim carries substantial uncertainty. Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons — a religious decree that Tehran cited for years as evidence of its peaceful intentions — while simultaneously enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. Whether Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father after his death in late May, considers himself bound by that fatwa remains an open question. A verbal commitment relayed through Trump without independent confirmation from Tehran, the IAEA or any mediator does not constitute an agreement in any enforceable sense.

The administration’s pattern of describing negotiations in terms more optimistic than Tehran’s public posture supports further warrants caution. When Trump said a deal was largely negotiated, Iran’s foreign ministry publicly rejected the characterization. Whether this latest claim follows the same pattern or reflects genuine progress behind the scenes will depend on whether Tehran confirms any version of what Trump described.

What to watch

The next signal will come from Tehran. If Iran’s government or Khamenei’s office issues a statement confirming some version of the no-weapons commitment or acknowledging the supreme leader’s direct role, the diplomatic track will have taken a material step forward. If Tehran denies or ignores the claim — as it did when Trump previously described the deal as largely done — the pattern of asymmetric optimism will have repeated itself, and the military escalation will remain the dominant fact.

The overnight strikes have also raised the stakes for Gulf Arab states. Kuwait and Bahrain are now weighing the costs of hosting US forces against the risk of further Iranian retaliation. Any diplomatic progress Trump can demonstrate will help those governments justify their continued alignment with Washington. Without it, the political pressure to distance from the US military presence will intensify.

For oil markets, already pricing Brent crude near $100 per barrel, the question is whether Trump’s claims translate into any operational change at the Strait of Hormuz. Until tanker traffic through the strait resumes at pre-conflict levels, diplomatic language — however encouraging — will remain discounted by traders who have learned to watch the water, not the podium.

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For the overnight military exchange, see US strikes Qeshm Island; Iran retaliates against Kuwait, Bahrain. For Secretary Rubio’s nuclear conditions, see Rubio says no sanctions relief for Hormuz alone. For the unsigned ceasefire framework, see White House confirms 60-day Iran ceasefire extension — unsigned. For Iran’s earlier rejection of Trump’s deal characterization, see Trump says Iran deal largely negotiated; Tehran rejects claim.