US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he ​had not heard from the Iranians that ‌they were suspending talks with Washington, but added that silence would be fine and he was ​willing to wait.

“I think we’ve been talking ​too much if you want to ⁠know the truth. I think going silent ​would be very good, and that could be ​for a long time,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to ​go and start dropping bombs all ​over there,” Trump was quoted as saying. “We’ll just go ‌silent. ⁠We’ll keep the blockade.”

“I think I can wait as long as they want. They’re losing a fortune.”

The Iranian state news agency Tasnim ​reported earlier ​that Iran ⁠was halting indirect negotiations with the US after Israel ordered its troops ​to push deeper into Lebanon, complicating ​diplomatic ⁠efforts to end three months of war.

Trump said the Iranians were better negotiators than ⁠fighters, ​but that he had not ​been informed that they were suspending talks.

Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said that Tehran’s negotiating team is stopping exchanges of messages with the ​United States through mediators due to attacks on Lebanon, as diplomatic ‌efforts to end the three-month-old Iran war continue.

The agency said Iran and the Resistance Front, which includes its allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq, have set ​an agenda to completely block the Strait of Hormuz and ​activate other fronts, including the Bab El Mandeb Strait, in ⁠order to “punish” Israel and its supporters.

If the Houthis, Iran’s allies in ​Yemen, open a new front in the conflict, one obvious target would ​be the Bab El Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen, a key shipping chokepoint and narrow passageway that controls sea traffic towards the Suez Canal.

“Violation on ​one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. ​The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” Iranian Foreign ‌Minister ⁠Abbas Araqchi said on X on Monday, referring to Israeli operations in Lebanon.

The war launched by the US and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. It ​has also caused ​global economic pain ⁠by pushing up energy prices since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global supply ​route for oil and liquefied natural gas.

“The immediate cessation ​of the ⁠Zionist regime’s aggressive and brutal army operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the necessity of the regime’s complete withdrawal from the occupied areas in ⁠Lebanon ​have been emphasised by Iranian officials and ​negotiators, and there will be no talks until Iran and the resistance’s views on this ​matter are met,” Tasnim added.