Trump’s Mystery Iran Contact Revealed After ‘Top Person’ Tease: Report

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via AP)

The Trump administration’s mystery contact in Iran is reportedly the country’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, President Donald Trump declined to identify the official directly, but suggested Washington was now engaging with a figure wielding real authority inside Tehran. Shortly after that, The Jerusalem Post reported that the senior Iranian figure was Ghalibaf.

Taking to X, Ghalibaf later dismissed the claim outright, writing:

Iranian people demand complete and remorseful punishment of the aggressors. All Iranian officials stand firmly behind their supreme leader and people until this goal is achieved. No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped.

The president, speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, was pressed on who the U.S. negotiation team, involving special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were talking to.

“A top person,” Trump said, offering little further clarity on the identity of his counterpart.

Asked whether Iran’s newly named supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was part of the negotiations, the president said the U.S. had not heard from him. Khamenei has not been seen publicly since being named leader and is widely believed to be injured and in hiding.

“Don’t forget: We’ve wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two and largely phase three. But we’re dealing with a man who I believe is the most respected and the leader, you know it’s a little tough, they’ve wiped out — we’ve wiped out everybody,” he added.

The disclosure of backchannel talks and Ghalibaf’s involvement came after Trump confirmed via Truth Social that he had paused plans to strike Iran’s power infrastructure in a decision he said followed the opening of “PRODUCTIVE” communication channels with the senior Iranian official. Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied Trump’s claims.

The threatened strikes came with a 48-hour ultimatum on Sunday as the president demanded Iran reopen the internationally vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route. Iran responded with its own warning, saying it would “irreversibly destroy” critical infrastructure across the region, including water systems, in retaliation for any U.S. strikes.

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