00:04Hello and welcome to Global Pulse News. President Trump announced Monday that the United States
00:10and Iran are negotiating what he called a total resolution of our hostilities in the
00:15Middle East, adding that he would delay planned attacks on Iranian power plants by five days.
00:21Tehran, however, publicly rejected any progress in ending the four-week-long U.S.-Israeli
00:27conflict with Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry denied that direct talks are taking place,
00:32dismissing the president's statements as an effort to lower energy prices and by time for
00:38military planning. The mixed signals come just two days after Mr. Trump threatened to bomb Iranian
00:44power plants unless Iran fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz, a critical choke point for global oil
00:50shipments. Despite the president's calls for regime change in Tehran, analysts say there is no clear
00:57off-ramp to the war, which began on February 28. The Iranian government remains in place along with
01:04much of its nuclear program. Meanwhile, Oman, a longtime mediator between Washington and Tehran,
01:11confirmed it is working to establish safe passage arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz.
01:16In a social media post, Oman's foreign minister warned that the war, already causing widespread
01:22economic disruption, threatens to get much worse. Oil prices, which surged more than 50 percent since
01:29late February amid Iran's blockade of the waterway, fell sharply, dropping 10 percent following the
01:36president's announcement of possible talks. More than 2,000 people have been killed since the conflict
01:42began, most of them in Iran, Lebanon and Israel. Despite the ongoing violence, a U.S. Central Command
01:49official said Monday that American forces remain, in his words, largely ahead of or on plan for their
01:56main military objectives. Reporting from the newsroom, this is Alicia for GPN. Stay tuned.
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