(Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were ongoing amid high tensions.
"We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones ... and we have talks going on with Iran," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We'll see how it works out."
Trump has maintained he is hopeful that Washington will “work something out” with Iran, but also warned that “bad things would happen” if no deal is reached.
Earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, the news agency Fars reported.
According to AFP, following the Iranian authorities’ response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.
While piling pressure on Iran, Trump has maintained he is hopeful of making a deal and Tehran has also insisted it wants diplomacy while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression.
“President Pezeshkian has ordered the initiation of nuclear negotiations with the United States,” the agency reported, citing an unnamed government source.
“The source said Iran and the US will hold talks strictly within the framework of the nuclear issue,” Fars added, without specifying a date.
The report was also carried by the government newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh.
Iran said earlier on Monday it was working on a method and framework for negotiations that would be ready in the coming days, with messages between the two sides relayed through regional players.
“Several points have been addressed and we are examining and finalising the details of each stage in the diplomatic process, which we hope to conclude in the coming days,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, without giving details on the content of any negotiations.
Trump had warned “time is running out” for Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb. But Baqaei said Tehran “never accepts ultimatums” and that he could not confirm any such message was received.
Regional players have pushed for diplomacy to defuse tensions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Turkiye last week and held further calls with his Egyptian, Saudi and Turkish counterparts, he said on Telegram.
“President Trump said no nuclear weapons, and we fully agree. We fully agree with that. That could be a very good deal,” Araghchi told CNN on Sunday. “Of course, in return, we expect sanctions lifting. So, that deal is possible. Let’s not talk about impossible things.”
Baqaei said the rallying of neighbouring states around a diplomatic solution demonstrated a fear that any US attack would drag the region into conflict, echoing Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who warned on Sunday that a US attack would trigger a “regional war”.
Ambassadors summoned
The supreme leader also likened the recent protests to a “coup” attempt.
Authorities have said the protests, which were sparked by economic strain and exploded in size and intensity over several days in early January, were “riots” inflamed by its arch foes, the United States and Israel.
Tehran has acknowledged thousands of deaths during the protests, and on Sunday, the presidency published the names of 2,986 people out of the 3,117 whom authorities said were killed in the unrest.
Authorities insist most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts”.