Iran Talks Are a Phantom of Trump's Imagination
Bessent promises a Hormuz deal "today or tomorrow." Qatar says the only papers move through mediators — and the market has priced Trump's war at zero.
Scott Bessent put a clock on the war Tuesday morning. "There is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict," the Treasury secretary told CNBC’s Squawk Box. Traders took him at his word: West Texas crude fell 5 percent to near $75 a barrel by early afternoon, and the S&P 500 broke its intraday record shortly after the open. Wall Street bought the end of a war that Tehran, on the record, says nobody is negotiating.
Narativ logged this exact sequence on March 23. Trump announced talks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry answered "There is no dialogue between Tehran and Washington," Oman claimed the mediation, and markets surged on hope. Nineteen weeks and a burning strait later, the same three beats played again in the same order.
Trump announced direct talks with Iran for Monday afternoon. Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, buried them Monday morning before they could start: "We are not negotiating with the United States at this time. Our negotiations are with Oman." Iran, he added, has no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days.
