WASHINGTON/ PARIS — US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran's leadership had called seeking "to negotiate" after his threats of military action amid mass anti-government protests in the Islamic republic.

 

"The leaders of Iran called" yesterday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that "a meeting is being set up... They want to negotiate."

However, Trump added that "we may have to act before a meeting."

 

A channel of communication is open between Iran and US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East despite the lack of diplomatic relations, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said Monday.

 

"This channel of communication between our foreign minister (Abbas Araghchi) and the special envoy of the president of the United States is open," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in comments broadcast by state television, in apparent reference to Steve Witkoff.

 

"Messages are exchanged whenever necessary," he said, noting that while the US has no diplomatic presence in Iran, its interests are represented by the Swiss embassy.

 

The US-based son of Iran's ousted shah urged Iranian government workers and security forces on Sunday to join the swelling protest movement in the Islamic republic.

 

"Employees of state institutions, as well as members of the armed and security forces, have a choice: stand with the people and become allies of the nation, or choose complicity with the murderers of the people," Reza Pahlavi posted on social media after a rights group said Iranian authorities were carrying out "mass killing" to suppress the unrest.

 

Pahlavi, who has emerged as an opposition figurehead, also called for replacing the flags outside of Iranian embassies with the pre-Islamic revolution one.

"The time has come for them to be adorned with Iran's national flag, in place of the disgraceful banner of the Islamic republic," he said.

 

In London, protesters managed to swap out the Iranian embassy flag over the weekend, hoisting in its place the tri-coloured banner used under the last shah, whose rule ended with the 1979 revolution.

 

The ceremonial, pre-revolution flag has become an emblem of the global rallies that have mushroomed in support of Iran's demonstrations.

 

The Iranian foreign ministry summoned the British ambassador in Tehran on Sunday over the flag swapping, according to official outlet IRNA.