Esmaeil Baqaei

On 28 July, Baqaei said Iran was conducting no negotiations with the United States, while allowing that mediators might carry messages. His account directly contradicted Donald Trump's claim of deep conversations.

This was consistent with his position on 23 March, when he acknowledged messages through friendly countries but denied direct talks. For Baqaei, the distinction preserves Tehran's ability to receive proposals without publicly accepting a negotiating track.

On 23 June, Baqaei ruled out International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visiting Iranian sites bombed by US and Israeli forces. His statement contradicted the US claim that Iran had agreed to inspections.

He had already rejected the premise of transferring enriched uranium to the United States on 19 April, describing it as inseparable from Iranian sovereignty. The two statements place Baqaei at the public edge of Tehran's position: economic or diplomatic arrangements do not by themselves open the nuclear file.

On 25 May, Iranian negotiators met Qatari mediators in Doha while Baqaei said no deal was imminent. The simultaneous messages allowed Tehran to keep a Mediation channel open without presenting the contact as a concession during active conflict.

On 1 July, he again ruled out an imminent US meeting while Washington described the Doha round positively and Qatar tied frozen Iranian funds to progress. His role was to define the public limits of Iranian participation when the parties gave incompatible accounts of the same process.