Trump Claims Trigger Iran Rebuttal as Middle East Crisis Deepens

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Iran slams Trump’s claims as “false,” Israel resumes strikes in Lebanon, and the Strait of Hormuz faces renewed uncertainty. Was the détente ever real?

By TRH World Desk

New Delhi, April 18, 2026 — The US-Iran relations are exhibiting patterns of shifting sands. Euphoria of the last night has yielded to crude reality of the day — Israeli bombing of Lebanon is back and the Hormuz Strait is closed. The euphoria was timed with the US market trade. Traders made the money, and now the grim reality has struck the world that the US-Iran thaw in relations was just a social media phenomenon.

MB Ghalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s parliament, in a series of posts on X revealed the breakdown in the ongoing backchannel talks. “The President of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false,” announced Ghalibaf.

Trump had claimed that “Iran will hand over the uranium dust.” He had credited the B2 bombers for reducing “enriched uranium to dust.” Trump had even claimed that “the US and Iran now have great relations.”

“They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in negotiations either,” added Ghalibaf, who is known as a hawk in Iran, while being a key member of the negotiation team.

Reports said that the US and Iranian negotiation teams may meet in Islamabad on Monday. Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir had flown to Tehran for high-stakes talks. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had gone to Saudi Arabia. Sharif possibly was working financial aide from Saudi Arabia for Pakistan.

The rupture in the ongoing talks came from Trump’s announcement that the US would continue to force a naval blockade until a full deal has been worked out. Iran saw into this a red flag. Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi had announced the opening of the Hormuz Strait.

“With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open. Passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be conducted based on the designated route and with Iranian authorization,” added the Iranian parliament speaker.

He further stated: “Whether the Strait is open or closed and the regulations governing it will be determined by the field, not by social media.” This has been seen as a veiled response to Trump’s series of Truth Social posts last night.

“Media warfare and engineering public opinion are an important part of war, and the Iranian nation is not affected by these tricks. Read the real and accurate news of the negotiations in the recent interview of the Foreign Ministry spokesman,” stressed Ghalibaf.

Sulaiman Ahmed, a geopolitics commentator, stated in a post on X that “explosions throughout southern Lebanon have been seen. Israel has been carrying out huge amounts of detonations of Lebanese infrastructure. Qantara, Khiam, Naqoura, al-Bayada, Chama, and Houla are being destroyed.”

Israeli politicians per reports had been angry at the unilateral announcement of ceasefire in Lebanon, which had also included Hezbollah. Iran had maintained that Lebanon ceasefire is a precondition for a ceasefire with the US.