WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the U.S. would postpone strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure after what he called “productive conversations” with the country, in comments that spurred confusion over the participants in the talks and parameters of a deal.

Trump told reporters on Monday that he was holding off on striking Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, citing “major points of agreement” with Iran. Trump said special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had discussions Sunday into the evening with a “top person” on the Iranian side, claiming both parties were keen to “make a deal” and would talk again Monday by phone.

“Iran has one more opportunity to end its threats to America and their allies, and we hope they take it,” Trump said later Monday in Memphis. “It could very well end up being a very good deal for everybody,” he added, repeating that Iran cannot be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.

Trump suggested the U.S. and Iran could jointly control the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that’s been essentially closed since the start of hostilities, roiling global energy markets. Trump said the strait could be open very soon “if it works.”

Brent crude swung in a range of more than $18 before settling under $100 a barrel for the first time in almost two weeks. It marked a tumultuous session after Trump signaled negotiations were underway even as Iran denied the talks.

Trump said a “top person” is representing Iran in discussions but that the individual was not Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Axios reported Monday that Witkoff was negotiating with Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian Parliament’s speaker. Ghalibaf in a post on X, however, said no negotiations have been held with the U.S. Iranian state TV said the U.S. had tried to negotiate with Iran through intermediaries in recent days, but the country had not responded to those requests.

The chief goal remains stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon, and under a deal the U.S. would retain the country’s uranium stockpile, Trump said on Monday. He added that Iran and the U.S. were already in agreement on the matter — including a prohibition on enriching uranium for medical and other civilian purposes.

Trump said the initial reprieve was just five days — and he twice specified it was focused on strikes on major energy and electricity infrastructure in Iran.

“We’ll see how that goes, and if it goes well, we’re going to end up with settling this,” he said. “Otherwise we just keep bombing our little hearts out.”

Still, the opening suggests potentially long, arduous talks — like those that led to the Iran deal hammered out under former President Barack Obama — and defying an easy, quick win on Tehran’s nuclear capability.

After Trump’s latest comments on Monday, Iran said it was firing fresh missiles and drones at Israel and U.S. targets — challenging hopes for immediate de-escalation. Later on Monday night in Tehran, the Supreme Leader’s military adviser said the war would continue until all sanctions are lifted.

Trump previously ordered Marines to head to the region, including the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan with more than 2,000 troops.

The talk of a deal “could be a head fake by the president,” said Fred Fleitz, who served on the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first administration. Still, Fleitz, who now serves as a vice chairman at the America First Policy Institute, said he was “hopeful this will be the beginning of the end of major military operations.”

Various Middle Eastern countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman, have been involved in back-channel talks with Iran in the past two weeks to try to contain the war and, ideally, to find a way for the Islamic Republic and the U.S.-Israeli coalition to agree to a ceasefire.

Trump had given Iran until Monday evening in Washington to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or the U.S. and Israel would start bombing the country’s power plants. Iran had vowed to hit energy, information technology and water facilities across the Middle East in response.

Iran also said it would lay mines across the “entire Persian Gulf” in the event of further attacks on its coastline, the country’s National Defense Council said on Monday.

“Weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz is not an act of aggression against one nation. It’s economic terrorism against every nation,” Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., said in an address to the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston.

Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the conflict, which the U.S. and Israel began with a wave of airstrikes on Feb. 28 that killed former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The blockage to the waterway, a conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas exports, has seen oil and gas prices surge, with fears growing of an inflation and food crisis.

Iran has retaliated to the ongoing bombardment with strikes on Israel and around the Persian Gulf. At least 4,200 people have been killed in the war to date, more than three quarters of them in the Islamic Republic.

Asked if Israel would abide by any deal, Trump said Monday that “I think Israel will be very happy with what we have.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he’d spoken with Trump, with the U.S. president working on agreement that “will safeguard our vital interests.” Still, he indicated that Israel would continue to strike in Iran and Lebanon, where it’s fighting a parallel war against Tehran-aligned Hezbollah.

“We are smashing the missile program and the nuclear program, and we continue to deal severe blows to Hezbollah,” he said.

Iran continued to respond, with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reporting drone and missile attacks, though there were no reports of major strikes.

Trump has given numerous reasons for starting the war, including the need to eliminate Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons. Iran has long denied pursuing atomic arms, though it hasn’t allowed United Nations inspectors into the country since before an earlier round of Israel and U.S. strikes in June last year.

Trump has been under increasing pressure domestically. U.S. gas-pump costs have risen every day since the conflict began, according to American Automobile Association data. Midterm elections are set for November.

Israeli airstrikes on a key Iranian gas field last week triggered a wave of reprisals, damaging some of the region’s main energy-producing assets, including Qatar’s giant LNG plant in Ras Laffan.

International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said more than 40 energy sites across nine countries in the Middle East have been “severely or very severely” damaged, potentially prolonging disruptions to global supply chains once the conflict ends.

The damage means it will take some time for oil fields, refineries and pipelines to be brought back online, Birol said. That’s on top of the blockage to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has kept closed to all but a selected few ships. Two Indian-flagged vessels carrying liquefied petroleum gas are making their way through the waterway on Monday, ship-tracking data show.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 3,231 people have died in Iran. In Lebanon, where Israel has intensified its offensive against Hezbollah militants, the death toll exceeds 1,000. Dozens have been killed in Israel and Arab states.

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With assistance from Devika Krishna Kumar, Mia Gindis, Hadriana Lowenkron, John Bowker, Eric Martin and Alisa Odenheimer.

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