Iran really wanted to make a deal with the U.S. and that it would be a good one for Washington and its allies, President Donald Trump said on Monday.
His post came only hours after the U.S. military said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend and Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted a U.S. base in response.
However, he also said it was harder for him to negotiate with Iran because of all the political commentary surrounding the conflict.
The U.S. and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes since their ceasefire took effect in early April as diplomacy aimed at a more durable agreement drags on. A similar exchange occurred last Thursday and was described in near-identical terms by both sides.
The weekend U.S. strikes on Iran's Gulf coast were in response to "aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters," the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday it had targeted an air base used by the U.S. in response to the attack on southern Iran, without identifying which base.
Air defences in Kuwait, where a major U.S. base is located, were intercepting missile and drone attacks on Monday as sirens sounded across the country, the state news agency KUNA reported.
Stop negative 'chirping', Trump says
In a late-night social media post, U.S. President Donald Trump did not mention the exchange of hostilities, repeating his as-yet unproven claim that Iran "really wants to make a deal".
He berated critics, including what he described as "seemingly unpatriotic Republicans", for negative “chirping” about negotiations to end the conflict.
Trump is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get U.S. gasoline prices down ahead of November’s congressional elections, as voters show increasing frustration over rising prices.
At the same time, he faces a potential backlash from Iran hawks in his own party over any concessions to Tehran.
Oil prices rose about 2% in Asia on Monday as the lack of progress in negotiations kept traders on edge.
Trump has said his key aim in the conflict is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.
The two sides remain at odds over several other issues, including Tehran's demands for sanctions releif and the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.
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One person was killed and nearly a dozen hurt in a fresh attack on Riyadh's international airport on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported, a day after a strike claimed by Yemen's Houthis killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.
Yemen's Houthis renewed warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the warning should be taken seriously and that the kingdom “bore responsibility for failed interceptions”, a day after an attack on Riyadh's international airport that killed 12 people.
The Houthi movement has escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting the airport in Riyadh and other cities, killing more than a dozen people.
The Kremlin on Monday rejected a 60-day ceasefire idea proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow his country to hold presidential elections, saying it wanted an overall peace deal instead.
Ukraine is ready to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow also halts strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
The leader of Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets seven conditions agreed under a June memorandum, as President Donald Trump signals he may soon decide whether to resume military operations against Tehran.
Governments from the Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa are hedging against a conflict they cannot control, with contingency plans beginning to reshape trade routes, alliances and the regional map.
A supertanker which was cruising through the Strait of Hormuz was targetted by an unknown projectile off the coast of Oman, according to an Iranian news agency which said the vessel was “violating” navigation rules at the Strait of Hormuz on 1 October.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the U.S. and Israel of seeking to foment internal divisions in Iran after failing to defeat the country militarily, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
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