Trump, Rubio say talks with Tehran ongoing despite Iranian media claims otherwise

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday the U.S. remains in negotiations with Iran about a deal to pause their war despite claims to the contrary by Iranian state media.

And Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that as part of those talks, "there is the prospect" that Iran "could negotiate aspects of their nuclear program."

Iran's Fars news agency, citing a source, reported Tuesday morning that Iran and the U.S. stopped exchanging messages several days ago.

On Monday, the state-affiliated news outlet Tasnim said that Iranian negotiators would stop exchanging messages with the U.S. through intermediaries and that Iran would move to fully close the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial choke point for crude oil shipments.

Trump, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday afternoon, wrote, "Fake News Reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S.A., stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous."

"The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today," Trump wrote.

"Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, 'It's time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal. You've been doing this for 47 years, and it cannot be allowed to go on any longer!'"

But on Monday, Trump told CNBC in a phone interview that "I really don't care. I couldn't care less" when asked about the prospect of Iran ending talks. Trump said the negotiations had "started to get very boring."

He also said Iran had not told him that it would stop negotiations.

Rubio, in his testimony to the Foreign Relations Committee, said, "Now we are in talks."

"And I say talks because talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland, they're very different. They require the use of intermediators, unfortunately," Rubio said.

"But there is the prospect before us, which could happen today, it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week, that for the first time, certainly in my memory, they have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention, much less enter into discussions about that," Rubio said.

"It is not a guarantee that ultimately it will lead to a deal that's acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people," he said. "But we'll be able to engage them in a process to truly test the proposition of how far they're willing to go.

Rubio, who also serves as Trump's national security advisor, appeared before the panel for his first public testimony on the Iran war since U.S. and Israeli strikes began Feb. 28.

He defended Trump's decision to launch the war, saying Iran had been trying to build a "conventional shield" of missiles, drones and naval assets around its nuclear program.

"If you come and do anything about our nuclear program, we will overwhelm you with missiles, we will overwhelm you with drones, and we will overwhelm you with our navy," Rubio said, describing Iran's posture.

Rubio said Iran was seeking a "point of immunity" that Trump acted to deny.

He said Operation Epic Fury had been "highly successful," dramatically reducing Iran's ability to build missiles and drones, though he acknowledged Tehran "still [has] a lot of drones" because they are "easy to make."

Rubio said reopening the Strait of Hormuz remains central to any de-escalation.

"They need to announce that they will no longer fire on commercial ships that are going through or threaten to fire on ships," Rubio said.

He said Iran must declare the strait open, stop charging a toll, help remove mines and pledge not to fire on commercial vessels.

The hearing comes as Congress has grown increasingly uneasy about the war, its economic fallout and Trump's authority to continue the conflict without authorization from lawmakers.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the committee's top Democrat, accused the administration of avoiding congressional oversight.

"When I talk to my constituents, they asked for economic relief at home, not regime change in Havana or Caracas or Tehran," Shaheen said.

She said the administration's war powers notification was "not consultation" but "an attempt to avoid answering to this committee and this Congress about this war."

The hearing — about the State Department's budget — also widened beyond Iran, with Democrats pressing Rubio on whether the administration is pursuing regime change across multiple countries.

Rubio is scheduled to appear before several House and Senate panels this week as lawmakers press him on Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and the administration's broader foreign policy.