US President Donald Trump has rejected reports that talks between Washington and Tehran have been suspended, saying negotiations are continuing and that it is time for Iran to reach an agreement.
“Fake news reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S.A., stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “The conversations between us have been going on continuously.”
Trump said it was too early to say what the outcome of the talks would be, but indicated that time was running out for Tehran to make a decision.
“As I told Iran, ‘it’s time, one way or another, for you to make a deal. You’ve been doing this for 47 years, and it cannot be allowed to go on any longer,’” he said, apparently referring to the period since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that there had been “no negotiations at this stage on the details of the nuclear issue,” according to Iranian state media.
Trump’s statement came amid reports of tension between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, which US officials feared could undermine Washington’s efforts to reach a preliminary agreement with Iran.
Axios reported on Monday that Trump scolded Netanyahu over Israel’s actions in Lebanon in an “expletive-laden” call, citing two US officials and a third source briefed on the conversation.
According to Axios, Trump called Netanyahu “fucking crazy” after the Israeli leader ordered an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut in response to alleged Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
The reported exchange came as Washington was trying to keep diplomatic channels with Tehran open despite growing military tensions in the region.
US Central Command said in a statement that American forces had destroyed several Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
CENTCOM said US forces had thwarted and destroyed several attempted Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks and carried out strikes in self-defence against targets on Iran’s Qeshm Island. It described the strikes as a response to attempted Iranian attacks in the region.
According to CENTCOM, Iran fired several ballistic missiles towards countries in the region, but none reached their intended target. The IRGC, meanwhile, said it had targeted the base of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.