US President Donald Trump said he planned to speak with Iran, even as his country dispatched another warship to the Middle East and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said their military would be ready to carry out whatever the president decided.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Trump did not elaborate on the nature or timing of any dialogue or say who from Washington would lead the negotiations.
"I am planning on it, yeah," Mr Trump said when asked about possible discussions with Tehran.
"We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now and it would be great if we didn't have to use them," he added.
US officials say Mr Trump is reviewing his options but has not decided whether to strike Iran.
US-Iranian tensions have soared in recent weeks after a crackdown on protests across Iran by its clerical authorities.
The US president has repeatedly threatened to intervene if Iran continued to kill protesters, but the countrywide demonstrations over economic privations and political repression have since abated.
He has said the United States would act if Iran resumed its nuclear programme after air strikes in June by Israeli and US forces on key nuclear installations.
With a large US military force gathered in the region, Mr Hegseth was asked earlier in the day by Mr Trump at a cabinet meeting to comment on the situation in Iran.
"They should not pursue nuclear capabilities. We will be prepared to deliver whatever this president expects of the War Department," he said, referring to the Trump administration's unofficial renaming of the Defense Department.
Meanwhile, Turkey will offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran when Iran's foreign minister visits, officials said, as Ankara mulls reinforcing security along its border should the dispute escalate.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will tell Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi his country "is ready to contribute to resolving the current tensions through dialogue", a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Mr Fidan would reiterate Turkey's opposition "to military interventions against Iran (over) the regional and global risks such a step would entail", said the source, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday, Mr Fidan said he had suggested Washington tackle outstanding issues with Iran "one-by-one", starting with the nuclear file rather than trying to address everything at once.
His remarks reflected Tehran's own stance on talks, said Director of the Ankara-based Centre for Iranian Studies Serhan Afacan.
"If Trump invites the Iranians to reach a deal on the nuclear file, they are going to say yes. But if you put all of the issues in the same basket, that will be impossible," he said.
"For now, the ballistic missile programme remains a red line, as it sits at the core of Iran's defence architecture," he added.
Mr Afacan said: "Compromise is not impossible, but it would only come after long rounds of negotiations and if Tehran's security concerns - especially vis-a-vis the US and Israel - are substantially addressed.
"It all depends on what President Trump is going to say: if he says 'I'm not going to attack Iran' we should expect to see negotiations in a matter of weeks."
Alongside its diplomatic push, Turkey is assessing additional security precautions along its border with Iran if a US strike destabilises the country, a senior Turkish official said.
Much of the 500km frontier is secured by a wall, but "it has proven insufficient", said the official.
Turkey has so far avoided the term "buffer zone" but options under review include deploying more troops and expanding technological surveillance systems, the official added.
Turkey began the wall in 2021 over concerns about a migrant influx following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
Despite unrest in Iran and the threat of a US strike, there has been no evidence of any large-scale movements towards the border, the defence ministry said earlier this month.
To date, Turkey has built 380km of concrete wall and 553km of trenches with nearly 250 surveillance towers, official figures show, with drones providing round-the clock reconnaissance.
The move put the guards in a category similar to that of Islamic State and al Qaeda, marking a symbolic shift in Europe's approach to Iran's leadership.
Iran's foreign minister criticised the EU ministers' decision.
Europe is "making another major strategic mistake," he wrote on X, adding that "the EU's current posture is deeply damaging to its own interests".
