Iran denies New York Times report on ceasefire proposal with US

WASHINGTON, United States — TEHRAN — A senior Iranian official dismissed a New York Times report that the United States had proposed a 10-day temporary ceasefire with Iran, calling the proposal "completely distortive and misleading" in remarks to the Iranian state news agency IRNA. The official said Iran believes in "genuine diplomacy" and accused Washington of treating the diplomatic process as a tool of psychological warfare. Tehran blamed the escalation on what it described as US violations of a memorandum of understanding signed on June 18, without elaborating. Separately, US and Iraqi officials had said Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Zeydani had carried a ceasefire proposal from Washington to Tehran, and that Iran had rejected the offer. Zeydani completed his visit to the Iranian capital and returned to Baghdad on Monday morning after his official trip. The Iraqi prime minister is expected to embark on a regional tour in the coming days, covering Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Syria. No further details on the itinerary were immediately available.