Trump claims Iran is ready to talk with US

UNITED States President Donald Trump has said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, in a move coming as activists have said the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations has risen to at least 572 people.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERS

And human Regime protesters gather outside the Iranian Embassy, in London, yesterday

(Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran offered no direct reaction to Mr Trump's comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman - a longtime interlocutor between Washington and Tehran - travelled to Iran last weekend.

It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Mr Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear programme and its ballistic missile arsenal, which the Tehran regime insists is crucial for its national defence.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control’, in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the US for the violence, without offering evidence.

“That's why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,’ Mr Araghchi said, in comments carried by the Al Jazeera satellite news television network. However, he said Iran was “open to diplomacy’