Hours before Trump's deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran shut the door entirely, then cracked it open.
Tehran Times said on Tuesday that Iran had suspended all diplomatic and indirect lines of communication with the United States. Hours after the earlier report, the Iranian media outlet said diplomatic and indirect channels of talks with the US are not closed, signalling active efforts to attain a ceasefire.
"Iran has closed all diplomatic and indirect channels of communication with the United States. Any and all message exchanges have also been suspended," the outlet said earlier.
The move came just hours before President Donald Trump's self-imposed deadline for Iran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump issued one of his deadliest warnings yet, saying tonight would be "one of the most important moments" in world history.
"A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," he wrote.
Trump said that 47 years of what he described as extortion, corruption and death would "finally end" by nightfall.
Earlier in the day, US Vice President JD Vance had suggested that talks were still underway.
“There is going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then, and I'm hopeful that it gets to a good resolution,” he said, referring to the hours leading up to the deadline.
Separately, a US official told Fox News that contact with Iran was ongoing and described the discussions as positive.
“We are absolutely in touch with [Iran]. Absolutely. [The talks] have been positive. If we get lucky, we will have something by the end of the day,” the official said.
Pakistan has been involved in efforts to keep communication open between the two sides, CNN and Al Jazeera reported.
A Pakistani security source told CNN both civilian and military leadership were working towards a breakthrough. “The entire Pakistani civil-military leadership is working hard to make a breakthrough happen,” the source said.
