Live updates: Iran ‘prepared’ for war but open to US talks as more than 500 reported

Iran’s foreign minister has communicated in recent days with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, as Trump weighs taking action in response to Tehran’s crackdown on protesters, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It wasn’t clear what, if anything, the outreach from Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi might yield. But it appeared to some US officials like an effort to lower temperatures amid Trump’s threats.

Witkoff and Araghchi established a channel of communication early last year as the Trump administration worked to negotiate a nuclear agreement.
Those talks sputtered out after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.

Trump said Sunday that Iran had called him a day earlier to negotiate.

“They called yesterday,” Trump said. “Iran called to negotiate.”

“The leaders of Iran, they want to negotiate,” he continued.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States. Iran wants to negotiate with us.”

Today, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the communication channel between Araghchi and Witkoff “remains open” and “whenever necessary, messages are exchanged through that channel.”

He added that “certain points and ideas have been presented by the other side,” referring to the US.