United States President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that negotiations between the United States and Iran remain active, contradicting reports from Iranian state media that communications between the two sides had ceased.
The comments came after Iran's Fars news agency reported, citing a source, that Tehran and Washington had stopped exchanging messages several days earlier.
Trump dismissed the reports in a post on Truth Social.
"Fake News Reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S.A., stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous. The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today.
“Where they lead, one never knows, but 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!'”
Rubio echoed Trump's remarks during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, confirming that discussions remain underway despite the indirect nature of communications.
"Now we are in talks."
"And I say talks because talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland, they’re very different. They require the use of intermediators, unfortunately," Rubio said.
The Secretary of State indicated there may be an opportunity for progress on Iran's nuclear programme.
"But there is the prospect before us, which could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week, that for the first time, certainly in my memory, they have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention, much less enter into discussions about that," Rubio said.
"It is not a guarantee that ultimately it will lead to a deal that’s acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people," he said. "But we’ll be able to engage them in a process to truly test the proposition of how far they’re willing to go."
Rubio, who also serves as Trump's national security adviser, was making his first public testimony on the Iran conflict since U.S. and Israeli military operations began on 28 February.
Defending the administration's actions, Rubio argued that Iran had been attempting to build a protective military network around its nuclear infrastructure.
"If you come and do anything about our nuclear program, we will overwhelm you with missiles, we will overwhelm you with drones, and we will overwhelm you with our navy," Rubio said, describing Iran's posture.
He said Tehran had been seeking a "point of immunity" that the Trump administration moved to prevent.
Rubio described Operation Epic Fury as "highly successful", saying it had significantly degraded Iran's missile and drone manufacturing capabilities, although he acknowledged that Tehran "still [has] a lot of drones" because they are "easy to make".
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains a key objective in any effort to reduce tensions, Rubio said.
"They need to announce that they will no longer fire on commercial ships that are going through or threaten to fire on ships," Rubio said.
He added that Iran would need to formally declare the waterway open, cease charging transit tolls, assist with mine-clearing operations and pledge not to target commercial shipping.
Rubio's testimony comes amid growing concern in Congress over the conflict, its impact on global energy markets and the president's authority to continue military operations without explicit congressional approval.
The secretary of state is scheduled to appear before several House and Senate committees this week as lawmakers seek answers on Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and broader U.S. foreign policy issues.
Separately, the U.S. military said it fired a Hellfire missile at an oil tanker travelling toward an Iranian export terminal after the vessel allegedly ignored repeated instructions from American forces.
According to U.S. Central Command, the Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie was sailing toward Kharg Island and failed to comply with warnings issued over a 24-hour period.
"A U.S. aircraft ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship's engine room, preventing the tanker from reaching Iran," CENTCOM said in a statement.
Kharg Island, located about 20 miles off Iran's northern Gulf coast, serves as the country's primary oil export hub. U.S. officials did not disclose whether the tanker was carrying crude oil.
CENTCOM said that since the beginning of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, American forces have disabled six commercial vessels and redirected 122 others.
