"They really want to make a deal, but they're afraid to admit it because they think they'll get killed by their own people," Trump said on Thursday night, Swedish time, according to the BBC.
They are also afraid that they will be killed by us," he continued.
Just hours earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that messages had been exchanged with the United States through intermediaries, but that no negotiations had taken place.
State-run Iranian Press TV previously reported that a senior official had stated that Iran had presented five conditions to end the war, including recognition of Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz.
The conditions can be seen as counter-demands to the 15-point plan for a ceasefire that the US reportedly submitted to Iran.
Meanwhile, attacks by and against Iran continue. More than 10,000 military targets have been hit in the country, the US military command, Central Command, said on Wednesday. Of those, 92 percent of the largest ships in the Iranian navy have been destroyed. In addition, two-thirds of Iran's facilities for manufacturing missiles and attack drones have been hit by US attacks.
