Peace talks with Iran ongoing and progressing well. White House

Peace talks with Iran are ongoing and progressing well and what Tehran says publicly differs from what it tells US officials in private meetings, the White House said on Monday.

"Despite all of the public posturing you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly is, of course, much different than what's being communicated to us privately," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing.

She also said that President Donald Trump was interested in calling on Arab countries to pay for the cost of the Iran war but gave no more details about that proposal, adding that she thinks Trump would have more to say on the issue himself.

Leavitt's comments on the status of peace talks echo those of Secretary of State Marco Rubio who said earlier on Monday that the United States privately had received positive messages.

Rubio said there were internal "fractures" inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hopes figures with "power to deliver" take charge.

"We are hopeful that that's the case," Rubio told the ABC News programme "Good Morning America."

"There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past, some of the things they're willing to do," he said.

Rubio nonetheless also denounced the Islamic republic in broad strokes, insisting that the war aimed to end its nuclear weapons building capacity, which President Donald Trump said he accomplished during an attack last year.

"These people are lunatics. They are insane. They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future," Rubio said.