As the war rages, rumors of secret US-Iran text message backchannels and allegations that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince urged Trump to escalate strikes have sparked fierce diplomatic denials.
Behind the intense military exchanges, complex diplomatic maneuvering is occurring. Farsi and Hebrew sources heavily circulated a New York Times report claiming that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) secretly urged Donald Trump to intensify military attacks on Iran to trigger regime collapse. This prompted furious condemnations from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who demanded regional neighbors clarify their complicity in the "massacre" of Iranians, leading to swift Saudi denials. Meanwhile, Arabic-language media highlighted a leaked Axios report suggesting that a direct text-message backchannel has been established between US envoy Steven Witkoff and Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi to negotiate an end to the war. Iranian state-aligned media strongly denied any such communications. Concurrently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defended Iran's retaliatory strikes, mocked the US-Israeli coalition for failing to achieve a swift victory, and officially offered Moscow's mediation to resolve the crisis.
Information warfare is prevalent in diplomatic reporting. Iranian media aggressively denies negotiating with the US while leveraging the MBS rumor to pressure its Arab neighbors. Arabic sources highlight Iran's demands for firm security guarantees before any ceasefire can be considered.