June 1 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were ongoing, despite a report that Tehran had suspended indirect negotiations with the United States to end hostilities.
“Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Iranian state news agency Tasnim reported earlier that Tehran was halting indirect negotiations with the U.S. after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon.
In telephone interviews with news outlets after that report, Trump said he had not been told that Iran was suspending talks with Washington.
“They haven’t informed us of that,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.
Trump said that silence between the two sides would be fine and he was willing to wait.
“I think we’ve been talking too much if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time,” he told NBC.
A suspension in negotiations would not mean the U.S. would start bombing Iran, Trump told the network, adding that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.
In a separate interview with CNBC, Trump had said he did not mind if the talks were over.
“I don’t care if they’re over, honestly … I couldn’t care less,” CNBC quoted him as saying.
Shortly after those media interviews were reported, Trump issued his social media post saying talks with Iran were continuing.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Ryan Jones and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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