The assertion, if confirmed, suggests a previously undisclosed level of hostility among top Iranian officials toward President Trump, who has called Iran a nuclear threat, regional menace and global sponsor of terrorism. It would also suggest a previously unknown eagerness by the Trump administration for some kind of dialogue.

White House and State Department officials did not immediately respond to the Iranian assertion, made by President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, at a cabinet meeting reported in Iran's state-run news media.