Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed the idea of his country’s Supreme Leader meeting Donald Trump, after the U.S. President floated the prospect.

On Wednesday (June 3, 2026), Mr. Trump told the New York Post: “Yeah, I’d like to meet him,” when he was asked about a possible encounter, adding that “we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out”.

West Asia war updates on June 6, 2026

Iran’s top diplomat however played down the chances in an interview with Lebanese media aired on Thursday (June 4, 2026) night, suggesting it was not realistic.

“I saw a report which apparently said that he [Trump] had stated that he was ready for a meeting or that he wanted to hold a meeting,” Mr. Araghchi told Al Mayadeen television channel.

“I think we should be realistic and think and live in the real world,” he said.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed Iran’s Supreme Leader in March after the death of his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on February 28.

Mr. Araghchi said in the interview that during the attacks that killed Ali Khamenei he had been inside the leader’s office where he died, but in another wing of the building so was unharmed.

The attacks prompted Iran to retaliate with missile and drone strikes against Israel and U.S. allies in the Gulf region.

Mr. Araghchi also said the new Supreme Leader has a “completely close and effective presence in the country’s affairs and has full control”.

He said Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence from public view since his appointment was “due to security considerations” surrounding the war, which has been paused since April 8 by a fragile ceasefire.

Mediated and direct talks between Iran and the United States have so far failed to produce a permanent end to the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump is “seriously considering” launching fresh strikes against Iran if last-minute negotiations do not result in a peace deal, U.S. media outlet Axios reported on Friday (May 22, 2026).

It said that Mr. Trump met with a senior national security team in the morning to discuss the war on Iran even as Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir visited Tehran and was joined by a delegation from Qatar in a last-minute bid to hammer out a deal.

President Trump convened a meeting with his senior national security team regarding the war with Iran on Friday (May 22, 2026) morning, two U.S. officials told Axios.

Mr. Trump is seriously considering launching new strikes against Iran barring a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations, sources who have spoken directly with the President say.

Mr. Munir is expected to meet on Saturday (May 23, 2026) with Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a key player in the Iranian decision-making process.

Axios reported that a U.S. official briefed on the diplomatic efforts described the negotiations as “agonising” with drafts “going back and forth every day” without much progress.

The Friday (May 22, 2026) morning meeting at the White House with Trump was attended by Vice President J D Vance, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and other officials.

“Iran is dying to make a deal. We’ll see what happens. But we hit them hard, and we had no choice because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. They cannot have it,” Mr. Trump said at an event at the White House on Friday (May 22, 2026).

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Sweden that “slight progress” was made during talks with Iran.

Mr. Rubio, who was in Sweden for the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting, said he did not want to exaggerate the progress in talks, saying there had been “a little bit of movement, and that’s good”.

Mr. Trump visited New York for a political rally ahead of the mid-term elections in November. Earlier, he had planned to spend the weekend at the Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, but cancelled it and returned to the White House on Friday evening.

Mr. Trump also wrote on his Truth Social account that he was not going to attend his son Don Jr.’s wedding this weekend due to “circumstances pertaining to government and my love for the United States of America.” “I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, DC, at the White House during this important period of time,” he wrote.

A source close to Mr. Trump and a second source with knowledge of the situation told Axios that Mr. Trump had grown increasingly frustrated about the negotiations with Iran over the past several days.

On Tuesday (May 19, 2026) he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wanted to give diplomacy another chance, but by Thursday night, he was leaning toward ordering a strike, the two sources told Axios.

A source close to Mr. Trump said the president has raised the possibility of a final “decisive” major military operation, after which he could declare victory and end the war.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was the “first one” to suggest attacking Iran when he discussed the “problem in the Middle East” with his close aides.

Speaking at the Memphis Safe Task Force Roundtable in Tennessee, on Monday (March 23, 2026), Mr. Trump said he called all his aides, including Mr. Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen Dan Caine, to discuss the situation in Iran before making the decision. “I called Pete, I called General Caine. I called a lot of our great people… And I said, ‘Let’s talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country, known as Iran, that for 47 years has been just a purveyor of terror, and they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon. We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55 and 60, there’s no end, or we can take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East and eliminate a big problem,” Mr. Trump said.

Iran-Israel war updates on March 24, 2026

Mr. Trump, who is facing backlash in his country over the issue, praised Mr. Hegseth for his quick response on the issue. “Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said let’s do it because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said. Earlier, Mr. Trump said on social media that he has extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically-located shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and that he will hold off strikes against Iranian energy sites for five days.

The U.S. President, without sharing any details, also said that there have been “productive conversations” between the U.S. and Iran for “complete and total resolution” to the conflict in West Asia. Iran has denied Mr. Trump’s claim, calling it “fake news.” “No negotiations have been held with the US, and fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” posted on social media.