Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that his country will never shy away from dialogue with the United States.
"We have never shied away from talks, and we never will, although the United States has targeted our country three times despite having signed an agreement," the semi-official Tasnim News Agency quoted him as saying.
He criticized the U.S. for not seeking talks with Iran, saying Tehran is weighing Washington's response to its latest proposal.
Iran said a day earlier it had received a formal U.S. reply to its proposal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. media reported Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington may ramp up military strikes against Iran after November's midterm elections.
A day earlier, Trump told reporters military action could come if no deal is reached with Iran, adding the time for a decision is drawing near.
The U.S. and Iran held a new round of indirect talks in New York on Monday. U.S. media said negotiations hit an impasse as neither side was willing to make concessions. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has returned to Tehran from New York.
Earlier, Araghchi announced at a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept. 25 that Iran had relayed conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and advancing negotiations to Washington via Qatar.
According to U.S. media reports, Iran has proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, lifts oil sales sanctions, and restores a regional ceasefire. Trump said on Sept. 26 he had rejected the proposal.
Iran not to shy away from dialogue with U.S.: Iranian President
U.S. stocks finished modestly higher on Thursday as benchmark Treasury yields eased from fresh multi-decade highs, though gains were capped by advancing crude oil prices and mixed corporate results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.51 points, or 0.04 percent, to 50,926.56. The benchmark Standard and Poor's 500 added 14.91 points, or 0.19 percent, to 7,666.45, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 10.53 points, or 0.04 percent, to finish at 26,871.6.
Six of the 11 primary Standard and Poor's 500 sectors closed in negative territory, with healthcare and communication services pacing the decliners by dropping 1.3 percent and 1.19 percent, respectively. Energy and industrials led the advancers, climbing 1.92 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
In the fixed-income market, borrowing costs pulled back from intraday highs. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note eased to 5.24 percent after spiking earlier in the session to 5.34 percent, touching a new multi-decade peak. The 30-year Treasury bond yield similarly hovered near levels not seen in 24 years before moderating into the close.
Commodity markets saw notable gains, reigniting supply-side inflation concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery advanced 2.45 U.S. dollars, or 2.71 percent, to settle at 92.87 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery climbed 4.28 dollars, or 4.37 percent, to close at 102.31 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
On the corporate front, Accenture soared almost 16 percent to pace the Standard and Poor's 500 after fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat expectations and its fiscal 2027 earnings guidance came in above analysts' expectations.
Semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology jumped over 3 percent after reporting blowout quarterly earnings, with revenue rising nearly fourfold year on year. Meanwhile, scrutiny over financing arrangements within the artificial intelligence sector intensified following a Reuters report that Broadcom agreed to lend AI startup Anthropic up to 42 billion U.S. dollars to finance infrastructure spending. Anthropic is projected to become Broadcom's largest compute customer by next year.
On the macroeconomic front, initial filings for state unemployment benefits dropped for the fourth consecutive week, pointing to resilience in the U.S. labor market. In addition, executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas reported that planned corporate layoffs fell in September, pointing to a persistent "low hire, low fire" employment landscape ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls report.
U.S. stocks edge up as chip stocks rally, bond yields retreat
