President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran's president had asked for a ceasefire, but ruled out any truce until the vital Strait of Hormuz was reopened for crucial energy shipments.
But his assertion was flatly denied by Iran, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei rejecting it as "false and baseless".
Trump made the remarks ahead of a prime-time speech at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Thursday) -- his first since US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 ignited a regional war and sparked a global energy crisis.
Tehran has insisted there are no ongoing negotiations to end the war, and launched fresh missile attacks on Israel and US-allied Gulf nations on Wednesday, as AFP journalists reported massive explosions in the Iranian capital.
But ahead of his national address, Trump said that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had asked for a truce.
