Days after suspected sabotage of vessels in near the Strait of Hormuz stirred speculation over Iranian aggression, the Islamic republic's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country would not negotiate with the United States and there would be no war between the two countries.
Iran's state TV quoted Khamenei on Tuesday as calling negotiations with the U.S. "poison" and saying: "This is not a military confrontation, because no war is going to happen."
Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said: "Neither we, nor they are seeking war, they know that it is not to their benefit."
The Ayatollah's comments come as tensions have escalated between Washington and Tehran. The Trump administration has sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and a bomber squadron to the region in response to unspecified threats by Iran against American interests.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump dismissed a report that the U.S. is planning for a military conflict with Iran.
Trump was responding to Tuesday's report in The New York Times that the White House was reviewing military plans against Iran that could result in sending 120,000 U.S. troops to the Middle East if Iran attacked American forces or stepped up work on nuclear weapons.
Trump called the report "fake news" and added that he would "absolutely" be willing to send troops, but hopefully won't have to plan for that.
He stressed that if the U.S. was going to get into a military conflict with Iran, "we'd send a hell of a lot more" troops.
Trump spoke to reporters at the White House before traveling to Louisiana.
