Iranian state media rejecting report that Donald Trump sent secret warning to Tehran

Iranian state media on Friday disputed a report that President Trump had sent a clandestine overnight message to Tehran via intermediaries in Oman warning that a U.S. attack on Iran was imminent.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which reports directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — the Islamic republic’s most powerful official — has “categorically rejected the report by Reuters claiming that Tehran received a secret message from Donald Trump through Oman,” according to an article posted prominently on the website of the Fars News Agency in Tehran.

While Fars and other Iranian state-controlled media are cited by U.S. officials for promoting Iranian propaganda and false narratives, such outlets are also often viewed as a conduit for official messaging from the regime in Tehran.

The Fars article Friday came hours after Reuters had reported being told by Iranian officials that Tehran had received a message from Mr. Trump in the middle of the night.

“In his message, Trump said he was against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues. … He gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran’s immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader Khamenei to decide about this issue,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.

It cited a second official, also speaking anonymously, as saying: “We made it clear that the leader is against any talks, but the message will be conveyed to him to make a decision. … However, we told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences.”

The Reuters report came after The New York Times reported late Thursday night that Mr. Trump had ordered military strikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guard radar and missile batteries, but had then called off the attack at the last minute.

Mr. Trump lashed out at the newspaper Friday morning, accusing it of providing false stories about him and his administration to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The flurry of developments has come after Mr. Trump convened a classified national security briefing for congressional leaders Thursday under pressure to respond to Iran’s unprovoked shoot-down of a U.S. Navy drone — an attack that the president downplayed as an unintentional mistake by a “foolish” rogue Iranian military official.