"We gave them a week": Donald Trump says he paused negotiations with Iran to allow funerals for its leaders

President Donald Trump said Friday during his Independence Day speech at Mount Rushmore that his administration delayed negotiations with Iran for one week to allow the country to hold funeral ceremonies for senior officials killed during the recent military conflict between the two nations.

The Republican president described the pause as a humanitarian gesture. At the same time, he defended the U.S. military operation, saying, "We knocked the hell out of Iran," and adding that the Iranian regime now wants to reach an agreement.

"They're dying to settle. They want to settle so badly," Trump said.

Trump's remarks contrasted sharply with the narrative promoted by Iranian officials, who have portrayed the ceasefire as evidence of Tehran's strength and leverage in negotiations. Meanwhile, exiled Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi criticized the official funeral ceremonies held for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, arguing that they were intended to legitimize the regime rather than reflect the sentiments of the Iranian people.

"To the foreign representatives in Tehran who have come to mourn Iran’s deceased dictator, Ali Khamenei: Iran is not mourning him. Iran is mourning the more than 40,000 sons and daughters massacred on January 8 and 9 by Khamenei, Ghalibaf, and their apparatus of repression," Pahlavi wrote on his official X account.

Pahlavi also condemned the ceremonies, calling them "this propaganda spectacle," and argued that public funds were being used to stage an event that failed to represent the Iranian people. He also noted that "not a single democratic leader attended."