BlockBeats News, March 24: U.S. President Trump stated that the U.S. and Iran had very good and productive dialogue in the past two days, pausing any military strikes against Iran’s power plant and energy infrastructure for five days. He mentioned that Iran wants to end the war, and both sides are discussing whether to reach a broader agreement, with discussions starting last Saturday. He said “they are serious this time” and expressed hope to “get it done.” An Israeli official and two insiders stated that Iran’s dialogue representative is Iran’s influential Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. According to Israeli media, Washington has set April 9 as the target date to end the war, about 21 days from now.
However, Iran denied “negotiations” with Trump. Iranian Speaker Ghalibaf called Trump’s statement “fake news,” stating that military actions are still escalating. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they are launching a new round of attacks on U.S. targets and described Trump’s remarks as “psychological warfare,” calling it “already ineffective” and having no impact on the battle in Tehran.
Additionally, according to CCTV News, a senior Iranian official revealed that both sides have exchanged messages through Egypt and Turkey to ease tensions. It was reported that the Trump administration is covertly assessing the potential of Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf as a negotiation partner and even a future leader. A government official called him “a good choice” but emphasized the need to test them and not rush. In response, Iran strongly denied: Ghalibaf himself denied involvement in negotiations, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry also stated that they have not held any direct talks with the U.S., and the U.S. has not accepted Iran’s two core conditions of compensating for losses and acknowledging misconduct.
Moreover, concerning military movements, according to The New York Times, senior U.S. Department of Defense officials are considering deploying around 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division’s rapid response brigade that can reach the target area within 18 hours. One option is to seize Iran’s major oil export hub, Kharg Island. At the same time, sources from the Iranian military said they have prepared new “surprise operations” for the days ahead, promising “significant effects” and claiming that Trump’s “all military options have failed.”
On the economic front, Goldman Sachs increased the probability of the U.S. economy entering a recession in the next 12 months to 30% on Monday, up 5 percentage points from before. This is due to the continued blockage of the Strait of Hormuz raising energy prices and subsequently tightening financial conditions. The bank also expects this conflict to lower global GDP growth by 0.4 percentage points.
