Meanwhile on Saturday, Trump said Iran was “talking to us” as tensions continue between the two countries, without providing details.
“They are negotiating,” he told Fox News, while adding that Washington could not share its plans with its allies in the Gulf.
“We’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens… we have a big fleet heading out there.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said conflict would not be in the interest of either country nor the broader region.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought and in no way seeks war,” he said during a call with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, news agency AFP reported citing a statement from Iran’s presidency.
Separately, the head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani met the Qatari prime minister in Tehran on Saturday and “reviewed ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region”, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Larijani, whom the Kremlin said had also met Russia’s President Putin for talks on Friday, wrote on X: “Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing.”
Iran’s foreign minister has said Tehran is open to talks with the US provided they are based on trust and respect but cautioned that its missile defence system would “never” be the subject of negotiation.
Trump told Tehran on Wednesday that time was “running out” for it to reach a deal on its nuclear programme – which Iran insists is peaceful – and later said they must also “stop killing protesters” to avoid military action.
It came after he had promised to intervene to help those involved in a brutal crackdown on protests in the country earlier this month, although he later said he had heard on good authority that the execution of demonstrators had stopped.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed the killing of more than 6,300 people since the unrest began in late December, and is investigating another 17,000 reported deaths.