Iran’s chief negotiator accuses Trump of ‘theater diplomacy’

Iran’s chief negotiator has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of staging “theater diplomacy,” as Washington and Tehran offer conflicting accounts of bilateral engagement aimed at ending their months-long hostilities.

“‘Massive attack coming … wait, never mind, they want to negotiate.’ That’s theater diplomacy on loop,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, wrote in a post on X on Thursday in an apparent jibe at Trump.

The remarks came days after Trump called off planned strikes and said the outlines of a deal had already been settled with Tehran. Iranian officials have rejected the claim, saying no talks were underway.

The conflict is meanwhile broadening across the region, with Gulf energy infrastructure and key shipping chokepoints under renewed threat.

Saudi Arabia is bracing for “multiple coordinated attacks” by Iraqi militia factions working with Iran-backed Houthis, a Saudi official told CNN. Intelligence reports from Saudi Arabia and regional governments reportedly indicated that the groups planned to strike the kingdom “in the very near future” under the guidance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The warning came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Gulf of Aden, another critical shipping chokepoint. Saudi Arabia has come under Houthi missile fire and drone attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi militias in recent weeks.

Shipping through the region’s two critical chokepoints has fallen sharply in recent days. Only two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from eight a day earlier, according to Kpler vessel-tracking data, against a pre-war baseline of roughly 130 to 140 daily transits. Traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb collapsed to a single dry bulk carrier, from 20 vessels the previous day.

Flows via Hormuz are unlikely to return to pre-war levels anytime soon, even after a deal is reached between Oman and Iran for managing traffic via the critical waterway.

U.S. and Israeli ships would be barred from the Strait of Hormuz under a draft plan involving Iran and Oman for managing the waterway, Tehran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday, with restrictions extending to countries that have “caused damage” to Iran, until compensation is paid.

Iran also plans to issue penalties of up to 20% of the value of the cargo of those who violate the terms of the agreement, which is currently under review, according to Fars.

Oil jumped on signs of Tehran’s hardening stance on the Hormuz traffic. Brent crude futures for October delivery gained 1.3% to $83.55 a barrel, while September futures for WTI crude rose about 1.1% to $78.17 on Friday, extending losses from a day earlier and reversing an earlier slide driven by brief optimism that a Hormuz deal was days away.

Earlier, regional officials said that Iran and Oman were close to finalizing a framework covering all inbound traffic via Iranian territorial waters as well as outbound traffic through a route closer to Oman, though the arrangement would not automatically reopen the waterway.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump pushed back on reports that U.S. munitions stocks have been depleted by the war. “The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” he said, vowing to pursue “long-term jail sentences” for leakers.

CNN reported later in the day that, in the Oval Office, Trump acknowledged that certain munitions are in “tighter” supply, while insisting less-advanced weapons remain in virtually unlimited supply.