The White House is promoting the counter-narrative of an obsequious Iranian leadership eager to beg President Trump for forgiveness even as an estimated more than 40 million people participated in the funeral procession and ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was, after all, made a martyr by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Axios is one of the White House’s favorite channels for its leaks as he regularly repeats the counter-narrative without any question. “The Trump administration is demanding that Iran publicly acknowledge that the Strait of Hormuz is open and pledge to stop firing on commercial ships,” Ravid wrote in a July 10 report. “The message has been conveyed directly and through regional mediators, three U.S. officials said in a briefing with reporters Friday.”
“U.S. officials claim Iranian negotiators told them that radical elements within the regime opened fire on ships in an effort to claw back leverage,” Ravid writes further. He adds later: “A U.S. official said the Iranians reached out to the administration after two days of skirmishes earlier this week and sought further talks to resolve the dispute.
“They told us, ‘We screwed up. We made a mistake. Let’s keep talking,’” the official claimed.
Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, denied that Iran is seeking any negotiations with the U.S. However, he noted in a July 10 TV interview that Tehran had accepted a request from a regional mediator to discuss recent developments and hosted a Qatari delegation in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where Iranian officials conveyed the country’s views, reported IRNA.
