Donald Trump orders envoys to halt all negotiations with Iran

President Donald Trump has ordered US envoys to stop all negotiations with Iran, declaring on August 13 that there are “no talks ongoing or planned” with Tehran. The directive effectively closes a diplomatic window that had been propped open since June, when a 60-day ceasefire brokered through the Islamabad Memorandum offered a brief reprieve from escalating tensions between the two countries.

That ceasefire expired around mid-August without renewal. Trump ruled out any extension, framing the moment as Iran’s “last chance” to come to the table. Tehran, for its part, has denied that formal negotiations were ever really happening in the first place.

How it got here

The Islamabad Memorandum, signed in June 2026, was supposed to buy time. The agreement established a 60-day ceasefire while intermediaries, primarily Oman and Qatar, facilitated back-channel discussions between Washington and Tehran. The central sticking points: Iran’s evolving nuclear program and control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes on any given day.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were both involved in mediating those conversations, focusing on de-escalation and keeping commercial shipping lanes open. Trump had even ordered pauses in US military strikes against Iran to give diplomacy room to breathe, while simultaneously warning that strikes would resume if progress stalled.

Iran took a notably different posture throughout the process. Rather than engaging in what could be characterized as bilateral negotiations, Tehran preferred to route discussions through Omani intermediaries, keeping the conversation narrowly focused on logistical matters like Hormuz shipping rather than the broader geopolitical questions Washington wanted answered. From Iran’s perspective, there were no formal talks to halt, because formal talks never began.

Oil markets feel the heat

The immediate fallout is landing squarely on global energy markets. The Strait of Hormuz isn’t just strategically important, it’s the single most critical chokepoint in the global oil supply chain. Crude oil prices have faced upward pressure as traders price in the growing probability of a confrontation that could interrupt shipping through the strait.

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