Here’s the latest.

 

Updated

March 23, 2026, 3:23 p.m. ET16 minutes ago

Aaron Boxerman David E. Sanger Julian E. Barnes and Richard Pérez-Peña

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/23/world/iran-war-oil-trump

 

Here’s the latest.

Iran denied President Trump’s assertions on Monday that negotiations were underway toward ending the Middle East war, with the speaker of Iran’s Parliament accusing the U.S. leader of issuing false statements to calm rattled energy markets.

 

Mr. Trump told reporters that the United States and Iran were engaging in “very strong talks” toward resolving the war that began on Feb. 28. He added that the talks produced “many, like 15 points,” of agreement.

 

But Iranian officials denied any direct talks with the United States, although they have said third countries have passed messages between the two sides. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said on social media that “no negotiations have been held with the U.S.” He added that Mr. Trump’s comments were an attempt to “escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped.”

 

Whatever the truth, the war continued to rage on multiple fronts. The U.S. and Israeli militaries said on Monday that they had carried out fresh waves of strikes on Iran, and Israel continued its offensive in Lebanon. Iran claimed attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia and a U.S. base in Syria, though it was not clear if any of them penetrated air defenses.

 

Mr. Trump said he was postponing his threat to attack Iranian power plants while the talks take place. He had said on Saturday that if Iran did not allow shipping traffic to pass unimpeded through the Strait of Hormuz by Monday night, he would bomb the plants; on Monday, he set a new deadline of Friday.

 

Mr. Trump said on Monday that a son-in-law of his, Jared Kushner, and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, were leading negotiations, and that the United States was communicating with one of Iran’s leaders, without naming the person. He said the U.S. side was demanding an end to Iranian nuclear enrichment and elimination of the country’s uranium stockpiles that could be used to one day make a bomb, terms that Iran had previously rejected.

 

The Israeli government did not immediately comment, and it was unclear whether it would be bound by any agreement with the United States.

 

The war’s global fallout has seen the price of oil and gas shoot up by more than 50 percent since late February — a crisis that is now worse than the oil shocks in 1973 and 1979 combined, according to the head of the International Energy Agency.

 

Mr. Trump’s statement about talks with Iran immediately reduced energy prices somewhat, but it was unclear how long that could last without tangible progress toward ending the war. The president has repeatedly given optimistic assessments that temporarily eased market jitters, only to have prices rise again.

 

More than 2,000 people have been killed since the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran that ignited the conflict more than three weeks ago, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, where Israel has fought a second front with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.

 

Here’s what else we’re covering:

 

Israeli air defenses: Israel’s military faced scrutiny on Sunday about Iranian missiles that hit Dimona, a city eight miles away from Israel’s main nuclear facility, and the nearby city of Arad on Saturday night. More than 10 people were seriously injured and dozens more hurt in the strikes, renewing concerns that Israel might be holding back on using its most sophisticated air defenses to avoid depleting them.

 

Attacks in Lebanon: Israel’s military chief said on Sunday that its campaign against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group in Lebanon, had “only just begun,” adding that Israeli forces were preparing to push deeper into that country. Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, ordered the military to step up the demolition of bridges and houses in Lebanon, deepening fears that Israel is preparing for a long-term occupation in the country’s south.

 

Death tolls: Iran’s U.N. ambassador said that at least 1,348 civilians had been killed in the country since the start of the war — a toll that has not been updated for over a week. On Friday, a Washington-based group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, reported that at least 1,398 civilians had been killed. More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed, the authorities there said on Thursday. At least 15 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel, officials have said. The American death toll stood at 13 service members.