A top Iranian official on Saturday suggested that progress is being made toward negotiations with the US amid a buildup of American forces near Iran.

US President Donald Trump has moved warships into the region and said an attack on Iranian soil would occur if Iran does not make a "deal."

Iranian officials speak with US Mideast allies amid deescalation push  

"Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing," head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said.

Larijani met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Tehran on Saturday, where, according to a Qatari statement, "they reviewed ongoing efforts to deescalate tensions in the region."

Qatar is a major ally of the US and can also play a mediating role between the two sides. Qatar has closer relations with Iran than some other Sunni Arab nations in the region, such as Saudi Arabia.  

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said war would be detrimental for both the US and Iran. 

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and it is firmly convinced that a war would not be in the interest of neither Iran, nor the United States, nor the region," Pezeshkian told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in a phone call. Egypt is also a close US ally in the Mideast.

Iran talking 'seriously' to US, Trump says

Speaking to the press on Air Force One en route to Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said Iran is talking "seriously" to the US and that he hopes there will be deal that will be "acceptable."

Trump said a possible deal with Iran would mean "no nuclear weapons." He had also earlier said that Iran should stop killing anti-government protesters.             

Demonstrations began against the Shia Islamist government in December as the country faces an economic crisis due to high unemployment, inflation and a weakening rial currency. Those protests spread across the country, with the Iranian government then engaging in a crackdown.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, 6,713 people have died in the protests so far, including 6,305 demonstrators. The Center for Human Rights Iran, also based in the US, said Friday that 6,479 people have been killed so far.  

The Oslo-based watchdog Iran Human Rights said Thursday that "at least 40,000 people, including children, have been detained in relation to the nationwide protests."   

Trump last month told Iranians to keep protesting, saying that "help is on its way." A day later, Trump distanced himself from the threats of a military strike, claiming that Iran did not go forward with the execution of protesters.  

Edited by: Sean Sinico