"The leaders of Iran called yesterday (Saturday)," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
A meeting is being planned, according to the president. However, he adds that “we may have to act before that.”
Iran's foreign minister responded on Monday morning that the country is ready for talks - but also for war.
"The Islamic Republic does not seek war, but is fully prepared for war," Abbas Araghchi told foreign ambassadors in Tehran, according to state-run media.
"We are also ready for negotiations, but such negotiations must be fair, with equal rights and based on mutual respect."
Hundreds dead
Over 500 people are reported to have been killed in the anti-regime demonstrations in Iran, according to the US-based human rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
"We're taking this very seriously. The military is looking into it and we're considering some very powerful options. We're going to make a decision," Trump said.
The American leader has previously threatened to "strike very hard" if protesters are killed in Iran.
"It seems like they're starting to do that," Trump said in response to a question aboard the presidential plane about whether Iran had now crossed his red line.
Send Starlink?
But if the US is going to strike, the question is how.
"We have a spectrum from military options, i.e. attacks on regime targets, to cyber support against the regime, to sending Starlink systems to help the protesters," a source told the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post.
Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network is one of the few ways for Iranians to connect with the outside world. However, the number of Starlink terminals - which are used to connect to the satellites - in Iran is currently believed to be very few.
The demonstrations in Iran began in late December when shopkeepers went on strike and took to the streets to show their dissatisfaction with skyrocketing costs and falling living standards.
Since then, the protests have grown dramatically and now encompass the entire country.
The discontent is rooted in the abysmal economy with skyrocketing inflation and a currency, the rial, that has collapsed. But, as with the wave of protests following the death of the young Mahsa Zhina Amini in 2022 at the hands of the so-called morality police, the anger is directed at the regime at large.
