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Akbar Novruz

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US President Donald Trump has confirmed that a backchannel exists between Washington and Iranian officials, while issuing a stark warning to Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, AzerNEWS reports.

Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Trump said there had been indirect communication with officials linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as a 60-day period outlined in a memorandum of understanding expired.

The comments followed an Axios report that Kurdistan Regional Government President Nechirvan Barzani had been tapped to serve as a secret intermediary between Washington and Tehran. The report, citing three sources familiar with the discussions, said Barzani's background and contacts in Iran made him a suitable channel.

Barzani lived in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, studied at the University of Tehran, speaks fluent Farsi and reportedly maintains personal relationships with several Iranian officials, including members of the IRGC.

However, the IRGC has denied that any such dialogue is taking place.

IRGC spokesperson Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency that there was “no dialogue taking place between IRGC officials and the Americans,” dismissing Trump's claim as “merely fantasy.”

Mohebbi attributed the absence of negotiations to what he described as Washington's “broken promises” and repeated “violations of agreements.”

“The sooner and faster the Americans accept their failure and make decisions accordingly, the more they can save their country from greater and heavier losses,” he said.

Trump, meanwhile, maintained a confrontational tone, saying Iran should raise “the white flag of surrender.” He added that he was in “no hurry” to reach an agreement, while describing Iranians as “good poker players” but claiming that they were “dying.”

The US president also issued a direct warning to Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, saying that if Muscat “gets in the way” of US control of the strategic waterway, Washington would “bomb the s*** out of them.”

The remarks come amid heightened tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important energy transit routes.

Trump also sought to downplay the extent of the US military campaign against Iran, saying that the American munitions used so far were “peanuts.” He added that the United States possesses many more advanced weapons, although some systems, including air-defence equipment, had previously been supplied to Ukraine during Joe Biden's presidency.

In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump reiterated that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon remains his administration's “number one Goal.”

“If Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said, it would remain the central objective of US policy.

Following Trump's Fox News interview, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran could escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and across the wider region if diplomacy with Washington fails.

The official indicated that Iran could shift further toward an offensive posture, rather than relying primarily on defensive measures, underscoring the increasingly volatile environment surrounding the US-Iran confrontation.