Iran said on Monday there were no talks underway with the United States and no plans for any meetings.
The information contradicted U.S. President Donald Trump who had cited talks he said would take place as justification for calling off attacks.
Earlier, Trump repeated a pattern that has emerged throughout the past five months: announcing plans for “massive attacks” on Iran, only to cancel them at the last minute.
“Would I rather make a deal? I’m not looking to kill people,’’ Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
“Now what we’re doing is talking to them, in the form of a negotiation.
“It begins tomorrow afternoon,” he said, without identifying a venue or participants for such talks.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei rejected the claim, saying no negotiations with the United States were taking place and no meetings were scheduled.
Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days, he said.
Baghaei added that all Iranian negotiators were currently in the country, apart from Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq.
The only talks under way, he said, were discussions with Oman over management of the Strait of Hormuz.
A senior Iranian source said that no talks were planned and that Araqchi would be unavailable at least until the end of the week.
This developments appeared to fit a pattern that has emerged since Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” alongside Israel more than five months ago.
On several occasions, Trump has threatened military action only to later cite diplomatic contacts as a reason for stepping back.
Iran, however, has publicly rejected negotiations with Washington since a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict collapsed in early July.
Trump has yet to achieve the objectives he set out at the outset of the war.
These include dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, curbing its ability to attack regional rivals and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers.
Repeated U.S. escalations have been met by escalating Iranian responses against U.S. forces in the region, Washington’s Gulf Arab allies and shipping, each time ending with Trump stepping back.
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz remains a central point of contention.
Washington said the June memorandum required Iran to open the strategically vital waterway.
Tehran, however, argues the text explicitly preserved its authority over shipping traffic that would leave Tehran with greater leverage over the strait than before the war.
The result that would likely be seen as a significant setback for Trump.
So far, the U.S. has failed to compel Iran to relinquish its grip on the waterway, sending global oil prices higher and pushing up politically sensitive gasoline prices in the United States.
Oil prices fell on Monday after Trump’s latest decision to hold back from military action, with Brent crude futures down more than 4 per cent to around 84 a barrel.
In the latest reported incident in the strait, the British maritime security body UKMTO said overnight that the master of a vessel had reported an explosion in the water near the ship.
No one was hurt.
