A war of words is exploding alongside the military conflict between the United States and Iran. And according to Iran’s leaders, Donald Trump is losing control of the narrative. For a regime the US and Israel say is being bombed “back to the Stone Age”, Tehran’s surviving leadership is still firing back—this time with scorn. Iranian officials have seized every opportunity to ridicule the White House’s shifting explanations about negotiations and war aims. On Wednesday, a spokesman for Iran’s main military command delivered a blunt message aimed squarely at Washington. “Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari. “Not now, not ever.” The remark was a direct challenge to Trump’s repeated claims that secret negotiations were already underway between the US and a mysterious “top person” inside Iran. Reports widely suggested that figure was Mohammad Ghalibaf, the powerful speaker of Iran’s parliament. But Ghalibaf quickly poured cold water on the idea. This week he publicly denied that any negotiations were taking place. Instead, he warned that Iran was closely watching American military movements across the region. “Do not test our resolve to defend our land,” he wrote on social media. The conflicting messages have fuelled confusion about whether diplomacy is even possible as the war drags on. Pakistan, which has been positioning itself as a potential mediator, says the White House has already prepared a 15-point peace proposal and passed it to Tehran. Yet early reports suggest Iran has rejected two key figures Trump expected to lead negotiations: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iranian officials reportedly branded the pair “backstabbers”. Both men were involved in approving last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran’s nuclear facilities and the continuing Operation Epic Fury. Those strikes came while diplomatic talks were underway in Geneva, a move that appears to have deeply damaged Tehran’s trust. Instead, Iranian negotiators are said to want to deal only with US Vice President JD Vance. For Trump, that demand may be a difficult pill to swallow—especially as he insists the United States is winning the conflict. But the situation is complicated by another problem: Trump’s own account of events. The president has repeatedly claimed that US and Israeli forces “completely obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities during strikes in July 2025. However, details of the reported 15-point peace proposal suggest something very different. According to Israeli television network Channel 12, the plan calls for nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow to be “taken out of use and destroyed”. That wording implies the sites may still be operational despite earlier claims they were wiped out. The proposal also requires Iran to commit to never developing nuclear weapons. Yet Iranian negotiators say they already made that promise publicly during talks in Geneva last month. Those negotiations collapsed when the United States walked away from the table and instead launched air strikes alongside Israel. Another part of the plan focuses on international oversight. The International Atomic Energy Agency would once again be tasked with monitoring nuclear activity in Iran. Ironically, the same agency had previously supervised the nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the United States from during his first term in office. Meanwhile, the White House is pushing for a major change in one of the world’s most strategically important waterways. The proposal demands that the Strait of Hormuz be reopened fully to all shipping and designated a “free maritime zone”. Such a move would dramatically alter the current arrangement. Iran never ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and reserves the right to require some vessels to seek permission before passing through the strait. Tehran has already shown how powerful that leverage can be. Earlier this week, reports said Iranian authorities charged a $2 million toll to allow a single oil tanker safe passage through the waterway. Officials may now be considering a system of fees per vessel while also controlling traffic to influence global oil prices. At the same time, Trump is preparing for the possibility that the war could widen. Additional US military resources are being sent to the Middle East, including paratroopers from the elite 82nd Airborne Division. Yet the president has also signalled he wants the conflict to end soon. Trump says the war’s main objectives have already been achieved and that “regime change” in Iran has effectively taken place. Many observers disagree. Iran’s population has not echoed that claim, and key regional players are pushing for a very different outcome. Israeli leaders and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are reportedly urging Trump to go further and topple Iran’s government entirely rather than negotiate with it. Meanwhile, Tehran is escalating its propaganda campaign. In a video released on Wednesday, Iran displayed images of what it described as victims of US imperialism—Native Americans, Hiroshima survivors, Vietnam, Palestine and Iran itself. The clip ends with an artificial intelligence version of the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei watching as a missile streaks through the clouds and strikes the Statue of Liberty. The final message flashes across the screen. “One Vengeance for All.” Almost a month into the war, the message from Tehran appears unmistakable. If Iran is open to dialogue, it is determined that Donald Trump will not control the story—or the outcome. Trump is losing control. Iran is humiliating him
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