Trump says he received Iranian 'present' as thousands of US troops head towards Gulf
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran gave the US a "present” related to “oil and gas”, while repeating that talks were underway with the Islamic Republic to end the war, even as thousands of US troops are en route to the region.
Trump delivered his remarks at the White House, claiming that the US would emerge as the ultimate victor from the end of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
“I think we are going to end it. I can’t tell you for sure,” he said. “We have won this war.”
Trump added that the US and Israel had killed so many Iranian officials that "I think we can say this is regime change".
Trump said that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance are all involved in negotiations to end the conflict.
The deployment of US soldiers to the region, however, tells a different story.
The New York Times reported on Monday that the US is expected to send around 3,000 troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, in addition to roughly 2,500 more soldiers arriving in the region from Asia.
Military analysts say those troops could be used to try to seize Iranian islands and coastline, as the US comes under pressure to reassert its dominance in a key energy chokepoint.
Dual messaging
The dual messaging has left everyone from oil market analysts to regional diplomats guessing.
"Forget the noise, the market management comments and all of this constant chatter, watch the actions,” Amena Bakr, head of Middle East energy at analytics firm Kpler, wrote on X.
“We’re told diplomacy is underway: meetings, statements, a meeting in Islamabad, etc. Will this amount to anything?…But on the ground?” she wrote.
“The US is deploying the 82nd Airborne and Marines. Israel is openly talking about taking southern Lebanon. And Hormuz remains tightly controlled by Iran. And don’t forget that attacks against Gulf countries didn’t stop.”
Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who some Hebrew media reports have said could be a key interlocutor with the US, dismissed the reports of direct negotiations as "fake news".
Two Arab officials told Middle East Eye that the US had made “offers” to the Iranians about engaging in negotiations.
Hebrew media reported that the US floated a 15-point plan to end the war with Iran.
Tehran would likely be sceptical of US assurances as it was attacked twice, first in June 2025 and then in February 2026, while it was engaged in negotiations with the US.
Trump shared a social media post earlier in the day by Pakistani President Shehbaz Sharif, saying that Islamabad was prepared to host “meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the war, if both sides agreed.
'We’re dealing with the right people'
Trump’s comments about an Iranian gift further muddied the waters.
“They're going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present, and the present arrived today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said.
He refused to divulge the “present”, other than to say it was related to oil and gas.
“It was a very significant prize. And they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. So that meant one thing to me: we’re dealing with the right people,” Trump said.
Trump has lamented previously that the US does not have an intermediary in Iran because all the senior officials have been killed in US and Israeli strikes.
Trump’s rhetoric has twisted and turned since he threatened to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure over the weekend in retaliation for its taking control of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump then said he was holding off on striking Iran’s power grid for five days and that he and “the ayatollah” could jointly control the waterway.
There were several developments on the energy front that Trump might have been referring to.
The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Iran has circulated a letter to member countries of the International Maritime Organisation saying “non-hostile vessels” can transit the Strait of Hormuz “in co-ordination with Iranian authorities”.
Lloyd's List, the maritime intelligence publication, reported that a tanker owned by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company transited Hormuz on 19 March and arrived in Vadinar, India, on Monday.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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