Trump took to his Truth Social account to contradict the version of events presented by government officials, calling the details incorrect. "I offered them NOTHING," Trump stated, while an Iranian official responded that the United States would eventually withdraw from the region; Ebrahim Azizi, who chairs parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said Iran would sustain its regional presence and that Israel faced a narrowing window of time, and a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Guards urged voters to hold Trump to account at the November midterm elections over his decisions on military engagement. On Monday, Trump disclosed that discussions had taken place between officials and intermediaries in New York, and separately declared that the United States would emerge victorious against Iran within a brief period; during the same week, delegations from both countries held separate talks with Qatari mediators, as Qatar pressed forward with efforts to end the seven-month standoff, with a foreign ministry spokesperson from Doha telling journalists that the parties were exchanging messages and that work was under way to find shared ground for an agreement that would shield all sides from the effects of the continuing hostilities. Brent crude is on course for a monthly gain of roughly 14 per cent, its best showing since July, while WTI appears positioned to rise by about 4 per cent after trading above $106 for the first time since May; in a separate development, the last remaining US military bases in Iraq have been closed and handed over, a move that Iran-aligned armed groups across the region have characterised as a victory for their side. The withdrawal, which came into force this week, had been agreed upon in 2024 during the administration of Joe Biden, more than two decades after a multinational military operation toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps urged the electorate to vote out legislators aligned with President Donald Trump ahead of the November ballot. The document, spanning 26 pages, called on the public to use their electoral power to replace sitting politicians, withdraw backing for Israel, and bring overseas military engagements to a close, urging readers to remove those it characterised as corrupt and harmful figures from office and to make clear to their representatives that the international order had changed; in a separate development, a UN report found that two airstrikes conducted by the United States on Iranian territory earlier this year may have breached international humanitarian law, among them an attack on a primary school in which over 120 children were killed. Data compiled by human rights investigators documented the killing of thousands of people who took part in anti-government protests across Iran, with verified figures placing the number of minors among the dead at no fewer than 221, some as young as two years old. A source within Iraq's transport ministry indicated that the exemption had been authorised by the Treasury Department and was set to expire after thirty days. Trump described the Strait of Hormuz as "Trump Strait," a name he put forward after Iran offered to reopen the waterway within seven days provided the United States fulfilled a set of outlined conditions. These measures are part of a wider strategy to apply financial pressure on Iran and draw it into diplomatic talks over a dispute with the United States that dates back to February.
