US President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran was taking part in peace talks, suggesting Tehran's denials were because Iranian negotiators fear being killed by their own side.
"They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly. But they're afraid to say it, because they figure they'll be killed by their own people," Mr Trump told a dinner for Republican members of Congress.
"They're also afraid they'll be killed by us."
The US leader's comments came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that "we do not intend to negotiate".
Mr Trump repeated his assertion that Iran was being "decimated" in the conflict now in its fourth week, even though Tehran still maintains an effective stranglehold over the crucial Strait of Hormuz oil route.
