Trump said "serious negotiations are now taking place."
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of a U.S. blockade until negotiations are concluded "one way or the other."
U.S. Central Command said in a post to X on Monday that the number of commercial vessels redirected amid the ongoing American blockade of Iranian ports had reached 85.
"CENTCOM continues to strictly enforce the U.S. blockade against Iranian ports," the command said in its post.
"Iran and its armed forces are more prepared and stronger than ever before," according to a statement Monday from Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
The statement, published on Iran's semi-official state media outlet Fars, comes on the same day that President Donald Trump said on social media that the U.S. will hold off on attacks on Iran, planned for Tuesday, at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"We will cut off the hand of any aggressor," the Iranian statement continued. "We urge the United States and its allies not to make strategic mistakes and miscalculations again."
"They should know that Islamic Iran and its armed forces are more prepared and stronger than ever before, they are on the trigger, and they will respond quickly, decisively, powerfully, and extensively to any renewed aggression or aggression by the enemies of the proud land and nation," the statement further said.
President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that “serious negotiations are now taking place” to end the war in Iran and that a deal acceptable to the U.S. “will be made," but that he had asked the Pentagon to prepare for “a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”
-ABC News' Will Gretsky
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post on Monday that dialogue with the United States "doesn't mean surrender."
Pezeshkian's social media post came after Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei announced that Iran had responded to the latest American proposal for ending the war.
"Dialogue does not mean surrender. The Islamic Republic of Iran enters into dialogue with dignity, authority, and the preservation of the nation's rights, and under no circumstances will it retreat from the legal rights of the people and the country," Pezeshkian said in his social media post. "We will serve the people with logic and with all our might, to the end, and safeguard the interests and honor of Iran."
Earlier on Monday, Baghaei said at a press briefing that Iran had sent a response to the U.S. proposal through a Pakistani mediator after reviewing the proposal "over the past several days.
“So the process continues through the Pakistani mediator," Baghaei said. "What can be said with certainty is, first of all, that rights are not something we are to negotiate or compromise over. Iran’s right to enrichment is recognized under the NPT agreement, or the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. There is no need for another party to recognize this right for Iran. This right already exists."
-ABC News William Gretsky and Victoria Beaule
President Donald Trump said on social media that the U.S. will hold off on attacks on Iran, planned for Tuesday, at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, because “serious negotiations are now taking place” and that a deal acceptable to the U.S. “will be made.”
Trump said he has asked the Pentagon to prepare for “a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”
-ABC News' Fritz Farrow
