WASHINGTON, United States, March 16, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States was in discussions with Iran as the war enters its third week but that Tehran was not ready for a deal to end it.

"Yes, we're talking to them," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, without detailing the nature of such talks, when asked if there was any diplomacy under way to end a conflict that has spread across the Middle East and roiled global markets.

"But I don't think they're ready. But they are getting pretty close," Trump said.

Iran's foreign minister had denied earlier that any talks with the United States were taking place.

Trump said he was not sure he wanted to make a deal to end the war "because first of all nobody even knows who you're dealing with, because most of their leadership has been killed."

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khameini and dozens of other Iranian officials died on the first day of the US-Israeli attacks on February 28.

Trump insisted however that "they want to make a deal badly".

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was not interested in talks with the United States, pushing back on Trump's stance.

"We are stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people," Araghchi told CBS's "Face The Nation," in an interview aired Sunday.

"We don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us," he said. "There is no good experience talking with Americans."