Trump says US is talking to Iran as Qatar-mediated talks show progress

US President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday that Washington is in contact with Tehran and that matters with Iran are going well. The Times of Israel reported that, when asked what message he had for Iran, Trump said "We've beaten Iran" and added "We're talking to Iran." He also said the US had not lost a soldier in "six or seven months."

The remarks were also carried by two Hebrew-language Israeli outlets. The Israeli television news outlet N12 quoted Trump as saying the US is talking with Iran. Ynet, the website of the Yedioth Ahronoth group, rendered his words in Hebrew as a statement that the US is meeting with Iran and making very good progress with it. The Jerusalem Post headlined its report on Trump saying the US is "doing very well with Iran" while indirect negotiations go on.

What the talks are about

Trump's comments came hours after a report pointing to movement in the diplomacy. According to The Times of Israel, citing Bloomberg, the two countries may be nearing a breakthrough toward a deal that would bring an end to the war between them, a conflict the paper described as largely suspended. Bloomberg's account relied on a single diplomat said to be familiar with the discussions.

The reason given for the improved outlook was Iranian willingness to look at proposals from Qatar involving concessions on its nuclear programme that Tehran had previously refused to consider. The deal discussed in recent days, the same report said, has focused on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz in return for relief from US sanctions, with wider talks on the nuclear file to follow.

The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea passage between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula that connects the Gulf to the open ocean, and it is one of the world's main routes for shipping oil. The reports do not explain the circumstances of its closure, only that its reopening is central to the proposal.

Qatar's role as mediator

Qatar, a small Gulf state that maintains working relations with both Washington and Tehran, has been hosting and brokering indirect contacts aimed at ending the conflict, which has lasted for months. In indirect talks of this kind, the two sides do not sit face to face; messages and proposals are passed through the mediator.

Shortly before the Bloomberg report, Trump spoke by telephone with Qatar's ruler, Emir Tamim Al-Thani, about efforts to reduce tensions. That call was disclosed by the emir's office, The Times of Israel reported.

A difference in wording

The English-language reports quote Trump as saying the US is talking to Iran, and The Jerusalem Post frames the contacts as indirect. Ynet's Hebrew version has Trump saying the two sides are meeting. It is not clear from the material whether this reflects a different remark, a translation choice, or a loose paraphrase. Taken alone, a reference to meeting could suggest direct contact, which is not what the other reports describe.

Signals pointing both ways

The progress reported on Friday sits alongside indications that military options remain open. The Times of Israel headlined its account of the diplomacy as showing signs of progress even as Trump considers renewed strikes, though the material available does not detail what those strikes would involve.

In Tehran, hostility toward the US was on public display earlier in the week. A photograph published by The Times of Israel showed boys, some in camouflage uniforms and green berets, standing in front of caricatures of Trump at the yearly rally outside the former US Embassy, marking the anniversary of its 1979 takeover. The picture was dated November 4, 2026.

Trump's remarks on Friday were made before a trip: The Jerusalem Post published a photograph of him at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, preparing to board Air Force One for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, dated November 6, 2026.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports includes a response from the Iranian government to Trump's statements or to the Bloomberg account. The claim of a possible breakthrough rests on one unnamed diplomat, and the specific nuclear concessions Iran is said to be willing to examine are not described. The reports give no timeline for any agreement and do not say whether Israel has been consulted on the terms under discussion. Trump did not specify who is talking to whom, or where.