Iran said Thursday that Washington's demands were "maximalist and irrational" and denied negotiations were taking place on a ceasefire to stop the war in the Middle East, according to Iranian media.

"Messages have been received through intermediaries, including Pakistan, but there is no direct negotiation with the US," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, quoted by the ISNA news agency.

He accused Washington of making "maximalist and irrational" demands, and said in comments carried on state television that Iran was ready for any attack, including an invasion by ground forces.

US Donald Trump had said on Wednesday that Iran's president had asked for a ceasefire but insisted that the Islamic republic must first reopen the Strait of Hormuz, ahead of a national address expected to touch on the state of the war.

Tehran quickly denied that President Masoud Pezeshkian had sought a truce with Washington, and announced on Wednesday evening another barrage of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases in the Gulf.

Ahead of Trump's address, Iran's president asked the people of the United States if the conflict was truly putting "America First," accusing Washington of war crimes and being influenced by Israel.

"Attacking Iran's vital infrastructure – including energy and industrial facilities – directly targets the Iranian people," Pezeshkian said in an open letter, published to his website on Wednesday.

"Beyond constituting a war crime, such actions carry consequences that extend far beyond Iran's borders."

They sow "instability, increase human and economic costs," and plant "seeds of resentment that will endure for years," he continued.

"Exactly which of the American people's interests are truly being served by this war?"

Casting the conflict as costly for both sides, Pezeshkian asked if there had been "any objective threat from Iran to justify such behaviour."

He also questioned whether Washington entered the war "as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime."

"Is 'America First' truly among the priorities of the US government today?" Pezeshkian asked.

He also said ordinary Americans were not Iran's enemy, "even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures."

His letter came ahead of US President Donald Trump's prime-time address to Americans on the Iran war in the face of plunging approval rates, economic jitters and spiralling diplomatic fallout.

Trump on Wednesday said he would consider a ceasefire only when the Strait of Hormuz was reopened, with Tehran's effective closure of the vital oil corridor sending shockwaves through the global economy. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong