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TRANSCRIPT
Farsi translated to English VO "In reaction to Trump’s false claim, the Speaker of the Parliament emphasised that no negotiations have taken place with the US. He (Mr Qalibaf) emphasised in this message that fake news has been spreading in order to manipulate the financial and oil markets, and this is an attempt to escape the quagmire that the US and Israel have been trapped in."
That's a news anchor on Iranian State television, reading a statement by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
Mr Qalibaf also issued a pointed social media statement, saying Iranians demand the complete and humiliating punishment of the U-S and Israel.
He reiterated that no negotiations have taken place with the US.
This, as Mr Trump insists U-S envoys have been holding talks with a respected Iranian leader.
The U-S president had earlier set a 48-hour deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
That deadline was for today [[Tuesday 24 Mar]], at 10:45am Australian Eastern Daylight Time.
But the president has paused his plans.
He says he postponed threatened strikes on an Iranian power plant, to allow for five days for diplomacy - citing productive conversations with Iranian authorities.
"So they called. They want to make a deal. And we are a very willing to make a deal. And it is got to be no more wars. No more nuclear weapons. They're not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They are agreeing to that. Any of that stuff, there is no deal."
But Iran says no negotiations or discussions with the US have taken place since the start of the war three weeks ago.
The U-S withdrawal came soon after the Iranian government said it would attack Israeli power plants and any operations supplying US bases in the Gulf, if the United States carried out its threat to obliterate Iran's power network.
So, what is Israel doing?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country will continue to strike Iran and Lebanon, as the U-S considers a ceasefire.
Mr Netanyahu says he has spoken to Mr Trump, who told him there is a chance to leverage battlefield gains into an agreement that looks into the war's objectives.
Hebrew* then translated into English VO "President Trump believes there is a chance to leverage the significant achievements of the IDF and the United States military to realise the war objectives in an agreement, an agreement that will safeguard our vital interests. At the same time, we continue to strike, both in Iran and in Lebanon. We are crushing the missile program and the nuclear program and continue to severely damage Hezbollah. Just a few days ago, we eliminated two more nuclear scientists, and there's more to come."
As the war in the Middle East enters its fourth week, local residents in Tehran voiced scepticism over Mr Trump's claims of peace talks and diplomacy with Iran.
This resident warns if they trust the U-S President, they will lose.
Farsi translated to English VO "If we trust him, we lose. In recent times, through his actions, he has shown what his 'brotherhood' means. He burned everything, the good and the bad, together."
She says lifting sanctions would have been the true test of good will toward the Iranian people.
Farsi translated to English VO "We can never really judge or understand what goes on behind the scenes of politicians. But whether they want to negotiate or not is something we have been dealing with for years. Today there are talks, tomorrow there are talks, and the day after something else happens. I doubt there will be any real negotiations between these governments. As for what comes next, I do not know, but I find it unlikely."
Meanwhile, fighting continues in Lebanon.
Mohammed Saleh is among the displaced Lebanese people who fled Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and had to set up tents along Beirut's seafront.
Arabic translated to English VO "We will not be affected at all. Before, they destroyed and destroyed and destroyed, but there it is, the south (of Lebanon) was rebuilt again. We returned and settled again along the border area. We were not affected before 2000, nor after 2000, and in 2006 it was the same thing."
Earlier, Israeli authorities confirmed they had killed a 60 year-old Israeli civilian Ofer Moskovitz, near the Lebanese border.
They had initially blamed Lebanon for the death of the first Israeli civilian to be killed in the border conflict.
Lebanon was roped into the regional war early this month [[2 March]], when the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel.
To date, the death toll from the war in the Middle East has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members.
More than a million people from southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs have been displaced.
