President Donald Trump pushed back against reports that peace talks have stalled between the U.S. and Iran over the latter’s condemnation of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

“Fake news reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S.A., stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous,” the President insisted Tuesday afternoon. “The conversations between us have been going on continuously.”

He did, however, indicate that time is running out for Tehran to make a decision.

“As I told Iran, ‘it’s time, one way or another, for you to make a deal. You’ve been doing this for 47 years, and it cannot be allowed to go on any longer,’” he said, referencing the Islamic regime’s rule.

The statement follows days of mixed messaging as to the exact status of the peace negotiations.

Trump had said he “couldn’t care less” if negotiations collapsed during a public interview on Monday, only to later post on Truth Social that talks were “continuing, at a rapid pace.”

The key stumbling blocks of the peace deal negotiations have been disagreements over Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco ⁠Rubio when testifying before Congress on Tuesday said that Iran had “agreed” to negotiate certain aspects of the nuclear programme.

"They have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention," he said.

Still, he added, it's "not a guarantee that ultimately it will lead to a deal that's acceptable to the Senate or acceptable to the American people."

By contrast, on Monday, Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said “no negotiations [have taken place] at this stage on the details of the nuclear issue,” according to Iranian state media.

Providing additional updates, Rubio said “there are indications” that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “increasingly engaging, at some level” with negotiations. 

Rubio also told Congress that ​Iran has not been offered sanctions relief from the Trump Administration in exchange for ‌reopening the ‌Strait of Hormuz.

The update from Washington comes amid reports of tension between Trump and his close ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Axios reported on Monday that Trump scolded Netanyahu over Israel’s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon in an “expletive-laden” call, citing two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call.

Trump reportedly called Netanyahu “f-cking crazy,” for potentially upending Washington’s efforts to reach a preliminary peace agreement with Iran, after Netanyahu ordered an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut in retaliation for alleged attacks on Israel by Hezbollah.

“You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me,” a U.S. official told the news outlet Trump said to the Israeli leader. “I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

Another source briefed on the call told Axios that the U.S. President was “pissed” and at one point yelled to Netanyahu, “What the f-ck are you doing?”

Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said that Israeli attacks on Lebanon would violate the cease-fire the U.S. and Iran agreed to in April. 

“The cease-fire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a cease-fire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Araghchi said on Monday. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the cease-fire on all fronts. The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.”

When Trump rang Netanyahu to urge him to hold off on bombing Lebanon’s capital, according to one Axios source, Trump warned the Israeli leader that such an escalation would further isolate Israel on the global stage. Citing a U.S. official, Axios reported that Trump was aware that Israel’s escalation was framed as responsive to Hezbollah attacks but that the U.S. President felt the response was disproportionate.

Axios sources also said that Trump, in the call, claimed he helped keep Netanyahu out of prison. The U.S. President has vocally supported the Israeli leader amid domestic challenges Netanyahu faces—including an ongoing corruption trial.

Trump later described the call, in a post on Truth Social, as “very productive,” noting that he’d also spoken with representatives of Hezbollah and that both sides had agreed to not attack each other.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, the Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal “for a reciprocal cessation of attacks.” Under the proposal, the statement said, “Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel, with the cease-fire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territories.”

The embassy added that Trump had contacted the Lebanese ambassador to the U.S., informing her that Netanyahu had agreed to the arrangement.

Netanyahu, in a post on social media, said in his own statement that Israeli forces will continue to operate “as planned” in southern Lebanon, and that he told Trump “if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut.”

Speaking to ABC News about the status of peace talks with Iran, Trump acknowledged that “there was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly.” 

But some in Israel were roiled by Trump’s declaration of a partial cease-fire in Lebanon. Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, addressed Netanyahu on social media, saying that it was necessary to strike Hezbollah and that “this is the time to tell our friend, President Trump—'no.’”