With the hostilities between Iran and US-Israel forces rapidly increasing as of day five, a new report has claimed that Iran's Ministry of Intelligence has reached out to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to discuss an end to the conflict.
The offer was reportedly made just a day after the conflict began on February 28 by a spy agency from an unnamed third country, a New York Times report said, citing officials from the Middle East and a Western country.
The report added that US officials were skeptical of the offer—of whether either the Trump administration or Iran was prepared for an "offramp" in the short term, the officials said.
They were also doubtful of Iran's capacity to enforce a ceasefire, given that its top brass is constantly being targeted and eliminated during the airstrikes.
This comes amid public statements from both sides signalling that the war would go on.
Washington's public statements
US President Donald Trump, for example, indicated in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that Iran wanted "to talk", but that it was too late to do so.
“(Iran's) air defense, Air Force, Navy and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!’,” he wrote.
He had earlier declared that Washington's "large-scale combat operations in Iran" was expected to take 4-5 weeks, but that the US had the capability to capability to "go far longer than that".
His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth has echoed this sentiment, declaring on Monday that Operation Epic Fury—the Pentagon's name for coordinated US-Israel strikes on Iran—would not lead to an "endless war".
"No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise. No politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don't waste time or lives," he pointed out.
Iran's public statements
Iran, which has lost Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 30 other officials from its top leadership, due to the US-Israel coordinated airstrikes, has also shown a marked change in their rhetoric around peace talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday attacked Trump for participating in the conflict against Tehran, saying that he had "bombed the negotiation table out of spite".
"Mr. Trump betrayed diplomacy and Americans who elected him," he added.
This is a huge shift from his statements a week ago, where he had declared—on the sidelines of peace talks in Geneva—that a deal with the US to avert conflict was “within reach”.