President Donald Trump's negotiations with Iran have even stumped Fox News, The New Republic reported.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade grilled Trump during an interview Tuesday after the president had claimed talks were underway "right now," despite Iran’s foreign ministry saying the country has no interest in direct talks.
"We hear that you’re talking right now with leaders on Iran,” Kilmeade told Trump. “But Iran has come out publicly and said ‘we’re not talking to the U.S.—"
"Well, they just came out and said ‘we are talking’ a little while ago," Trump said, interjecting Kilmeade's comment.
"So could you tell me who you’re talking to, Mr. President?" Kilmeade asked.
Trump avoided directly answering the question.
"For some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion, and they’ll come out and say 'we’re not talking' or 'we didn’t discuss nuclear,'" Trump said. "Well, that’s all we discussed, because they’ll never have a nuclear weapon, they understand that. We’ve had some very good talks."
Trump then shifted the conversation to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
"It does not inspire confidence when the president can’t confidently say who he has been in contact with while supposedly trying to negotiate an end to his increasingly unpopular and expensive war," The New Republic reported. "This conversation came after a recent pause in violence in the region, and ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Tuesday—in which he most likely lobbied Trump to start bombing Iran again."
KILMEADE: We hear that you're talking with leaders from Iran. But Iran has come out publicly and said 'we're not talking to the US'
TRUMP: Well, they just came out and said we are talking
KILMEADE: So could you tell me who you're talking to?
TRUMP: We've had some very good… pic.twitter.com/bAqKISTbjU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 28, 2026