Iran says Israel duped Trump into attack in cool reply to US peace overture

The remarks appeared to pour cold water on dovish comments Trump had repeatedly made about seeking Iran's participation in Middle East peace the previous day while in Israel and Egypt to clinch a Gaza truce.

“It is more than clear by now that POTUS has been badly fed the fake line that Iran’s peaceful nuclear program was on the verge of weaponization this spring,” Araghchi wrote on X.

“That is simply a big lie and he should have been informed that there is zero proof of that, as confirmed by his own intelligence community.”

Araghchi’s post followed Tehran’s criticism of Trump’s remarks at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt and in a speech to the Israeli parliament a day earlier, where he said, “It would be great if we made a peace deal with them, wouldn’t it be nice.”

Trump, Araghchi added, had promised to end “Israel’s serial deception of US presidents” but was now “being misled by the same warmongers who derailed American diplomacy with Iran for many years.”

Trump told reporters on Monday that Iran “has been battered and bruised” by sanctions but would “come along” to negotiations.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Trump’s statements were inconsistent with US actions, including the reinstatement of sanctions and joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. “How can one speak of peace while attacking residential areas and peaceful nuclear facilities of a country and killing innocent people?” the ministry said on Tuesday.

Tehran calls Gaza summit illegitimate

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had refused to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, describing it as “illegitimate” and lacking international credibility because it was not held under United Nations supervision. “Diplomacy will never be suspended,” he said, “but we did not take part in a summit chaired by a party that takes pride in an illegal attack against our country.”

The summit, attended by leaders from the United States, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, followed the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that ended two years of war in Gaza and secured the release of 20 Israeli hostages.

Responding to Trump’s remark that Iran had been “the bully of the Middle East,” Araghchi wrote, “The real bully of the Middle East, Mr. President, is the same parasitic actor that has long been bullying and milking the United States,” referring to Israel.

Araghchi said Iran remained open to “respectful and mutually beneficial diplomatic engagement,” but questioned how Washington could extend an olive branch while supporting military action against Iran. “Mr. Trump can either be a President of Peace or a President of War, but he cannot be both at the same time,” he wrote.

He added that Iran agreed with Trump on one point — that Tehran should not be used as a pretext for Arab-Israeli normalization. “If someone wants to throw the Palestinians under the bus while embracing a genocidal entity, they should have the guts to take full responsibility for it,” Araghchi said.