Times of Israel, on Iran, 25 October 2026

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Iran says messages are still being passed to the US amid war ...

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As concerns rise about a return to an all-out US-Iran war ahead of elections in the United States and Israel, Iran says messages are still being passed to the US and that Tehran remains open to diplomacy.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, says Tehran has not closed the window of diplomacy, and messages are being passed to the US via intermediaries. Negotiations over the war have appeared to stall for weeks.

State media says Baghaei spoke in an interview with a German broadcaster. He said the US appears to persist in making unilateral demands and that Trump and US officials repeatedly use the phrase “complete surrender,” which Baghaei said no Iranian accepts.

Concerns are rising among Iranians about a possible return to all-out war as Israel and the US face elections in the coming days. Israel’s election is on Tuesday and US midterm elections are a week later.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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About this analysis

The Times of Israel reports, in a short live blog entry, that Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei says Tehran remains open to diplomacy and is passing messages to the US through intermediaries, as Iranians fear a return to all-out war before the Israeli and US elections. The entry tracks the same wire account other outlets carried, keeps Baghaei's claims attributed to him, and nothing in it misleads the reader about the event it reports.

What it gets right

  • “Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, says Tehran has not closed the window of diplomacy”

    The outlet names the official and his role and reports Iran's position as his stated account, without casting doubt on it or setting it up as a claim to be disproved.

  • “Trump and US officials repeatedly use the phrase “complete surrender,” which Baghaei said no Iranian accepts”

    The outlet reports the Iranian objection to US demands in Baghaei's own terms and names the US side that uses the phrase, so the reader sees what Iran says it is being asked to accept.

  • “Concerns are rising among Iranians about a possible return to all-out war”

    The outlet reports the fear of Iranians as people facing a possible attack, rather than treating Iran only as a government or a threat.

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