United States President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is pausing attacks on Iran’s power infrastructure for five days and claimed that Washington and Tehran had held “very good and productive conversations” aimed at ending their war.The same day, Trump told reporters that his envoys were talking to a senior Iranian official.While Trump did not name the official, multiple news outlets in Israel and the US have reported that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, are talking to the Iranian parliament’s speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.Both the Iranian government and Ghalibaf have denied that talks between Washington and Tehran are taking place. And in the Iranian system, any negotiations with the US would need to be approved by new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Supreme National Security Council for them to have any legitimacy.Who is Ghalibaf, and what do we know about these supposed negotiations?What do we know about the talks Trump claims to be having?On Saturday, Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the critical shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz or risk US attacks on its power plants. In response, Iran said it would attack energy and water facilities in Israel and the Gulf. Ghalibaf also threatened companies that hold US Treasury bonds.Then on Monday, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Washington and Tehran had held “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East”. He ordered US …
