Trump, Erdogan Tried Secret Iran Peace Deal Days Before Airstrikes on Nuclear Sites
Synopsis
Just days before launching strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, Donald Trump and Turkey’s Erdoğan tried to broker a secret meeting with Iranian officials. Here's how it fell apart.
In a behind-the-scenes diplomatic push, US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attempted to initiate a meeting between American and Iranian officials in Istanbul, mere days before the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities.
According to a report by Axios, the covert effort was aimed at preventing a larger war and reviving dialogue on Iran's nuclear program. But the plan collapsed fast. The proposal was set in motion when Erdoğan called Trump on Monday while the US president was attending the G7 summit in Canada.
During the call, Erdoğan floated the idea of hosting a direct US–Iran dialogue in Istanbul the very next day. Trump swiftly accepted, offering to send Vice President JD Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff as representatives. He even indicated he would attend in person if it helped get a deal signed.
The Iranians, through unofficial channels, signaled interest. Erdoğan’s team relayed the proposal to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The two, in turn, tried to get the green light from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But Khamenei, reportedly in hiding due to fears of assassination amidst the escalating regional conflict, could not be reached. After hours of silence from Tehran, the Iranian side informed Turkish officials that the meeting would not take place. The Turks then passed on the update to the Americans, effectively killing the plan before it even took off.
Trump reacted furiously in a post on Truth Social: “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
Following the failed talks, Trump's tone shifted. At a press event later in the week, he suggested a deadline was looming. “We’re gonna see what that period of time is. And I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” he said on Friday, implying a decision on escalating U.S. involvement in the Israel–Iran conflict was imminent.
But two days was all it took.
On Sunday, the U.S. military launched a sweeping air mission dubbed "Operation Midnight Hammer." The Pentagon confirmed strikes on three of Iran’s most critical nuclear facilities — Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan. The attack involved 125 aircraft, including seven B-2 stealth bombers, in what Trump later described as a “successful” operation that left the targeted sites “obliterated.”
Iran acknowledged the airstrikes but maintained that no substantial damage was inflicted. Still, the timing of the attack and the abrupt end to a potential diplomatic track raises major questions about what lies ahead in the volatile Middle East standoff.
In a week that began with talk of back channel diplomacy, and ended with the most direct US strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure to date, any hope for negotiations now appears distant.