President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that he supported “equitable negotiations.” Talks are expected on Friday, as diplomats work to defuse the crisis.

Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would pursue "fair and equitable" talks, as the US builds up forces in the region.

Iran’s president says he has instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States.

Iran has tentatively agreed to resume nuclear talks with the US as it tries to avert the threat of strikes, in what would be the first such negotiations since the Trump administration bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites last summer.

The blast happened a day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

President Donald Trump said Iran is negotiating “seriously" with the U.S. as he keeps military options on the table and American naval forces move into the region.

Iran says it has had summoned all of the European Union ambassadors in the Islamic Republic to protest the bloc’s listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group.

Turkey is attempting to bring U.S. and Iranian officials to the negotiating table in hopes of easing the threat of U.S. military action against Iran. Neither the U.S. nor Iran has confirmed whether they plan to take part in any negotiations.