Iran denies that its uranium enrichment programme is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
US President Donald Trump told Reuters that he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.
Trump earlier said it was not too late for Tehran to halt the Israeli bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear programme.
“Two months ago I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal’,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday. “They should have done it! Today is day 61 … Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”
Tehran had been engaged in talks with the Trump administration on a deal to curb its nuclear programme to replace one that Trump abandoned in 2018. Tehran rejected the last US offer.
Trump had suggested that Iran had brought the attack on itself by resisting the US ultimatum.
US officials have repeatedly said any new deal – to replace a 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers from which Trump withdrew – must include a commitment to scrap uranium enrichment, a prerequisite for developing nuclear bombs.
