Tehran’s ultra-hardline newspaper Kayhan wrote on February 7, 2026, that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, acting on behalf of Mossad, ultimately will kill Trump. The claim appeared one day after Iranian and American officials met in Oman for a new round of talks. The paper is edited by Hossein Shariatmadari, an anti-American figure close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who finances the publication.
Neither U.S. nor Iranian press disclosed details of the negotiations, beyond vague U.S. references describing the talks as positive. Trump told reporters afterward, “I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly,” adding that his team would meet Iranian representatives again early next week. Asked whether a nuclear concession would be sufficient, the president said yes, while also pointing to ongoing military preparations and insisting there is still time to force Tehran to yield.
“I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly.”
Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, took a measured tone. It described what it called Trump’s dual approach of allowing negotiations to proceed while maintaining military pressure. The outlet also noted that Washington had effectively accepted Iran’s insistence on limiting the talks to the nuclear issue, rather than pressing demands related to ballistic missiles or Tehran’s regional allies.
Other government-controlled newspapers reacted angrily to Washington’s decision to impose new direct and indirect sanctions, announced on February 6 as the Oman talks concluded. The U.S. targeted individuals and entities involved in Iran’s illicit oil trade and issued a presidential authorization allowing the administration to impose tariffs on countries that purchase Iranian goods or services, citing U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economic interests.
One prominent daily described the new measures as powerful pressure tools. “This is a new instrument for choking off Iran’s economic lifelines,” it wrote. “While traditional sanctions deter banks and companies from dealing with Iran, secondary tariffs put direct pressure on governments, forcing them to choose: Iran, or the U.S. market.” The paper added, “If the United States is truly seeking an agreement, why is it intensifying pressure just as the Muscat channel has opened?”
Other outlets argued that tariffs targeting third countries represent a new phase in U.S. sanctions policy, reflecting the diminishing effectiveness of direct measures against Iran itself. This, however, is not technically true, because the bipartisan 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act took the same approach, much to the annoyance at the time of Washington’s European partners.
Tasnim acknowledged that the new tariff mechanism could cause harm but said it would not be decisive.
Tasnim, a news website controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the new sanctions demonstrate Trump’s failure to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero, as he pledged at the start of his second term. Although exports reportedly have declined, China continues to purchase roughly 1.2 million barrels of Iranian oil per day. Tasnim acknowledged that the new tariff mechanism could cause harm but said it would not be decisive. “There is no doubt that Trump’s new tariff tool, like previous U.S. sanctions instruments, requires careful review and countermeasures to limit its damage to Iran’s oil exports,” it wrote. “However, given the size and inherent complexity of the global oil market, this tool alone cannot bring exports to a halt.”
Criticism of Trump’s decision to pursue nuclear talks has intensified in recent days. Observers have questioned why the president agreed to negotiations after Iran ignored his warning against killing protesters. Some argue the move handed Tehran a political lifeline and made Trump appear weak. Others note that the president himself said after the June 2025 air strikes that U.S. forces had destroyed most of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, raising the question of why Washington is negotiating over capabilities Tehran has already lost.
