Iran said Monday it expected a framework for negotiations with the United States would be ready in the coming days, as President Donald Trump threatens military action against Tehran.

"Countries of the region are acting as mediators in the exchange of messages," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, without giving details on the content of any prospective negotiations.

Iran said Monday it had summoned all of the European Union ambassadors in the Islamic Republic to protest the bloc's listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group.

The move comes as Iran faces the threat of U.S. military action in response to the killing of peaceful demonstrators and over possible mass executions. The American military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Mideast. It remains unclear whether President Donald Trump will decide to use force, though regional countries have engaged in diplomacy in an effort to halt a new Mideast war breaking out.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he was hopeful of agreeing a deal with Iran after the country's supreme leader warned that any U.S. attack on the Islamic republic would trigger a regional war.

Following the Iranian authorities' deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday likened recent anti-government protests to a "coup", warning that any U.S. attack on the Islamic republic following Washington's military deployments in the Middle East would trigger a regional war.

Iran's top security official said Saturday that progress had been made towards negotiations with the United States, even as the Islamic republic's army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said Iran was negotiating with the United States, even as the Islamic republic's army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.

"(Iran is) talking to us, and we'll see if we can do something, otherwise we'll see what happens...We have a big fleet heading out there," he told Fox News.

An explosion took place on Saturday at a building in the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf coast, state media reported, though the cause of the blast was as yet unknown.

Iranian army chief Amir Hatami on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against an attack, saying his country's forces were on high alert following Washington's heavy military deployments in the Gulf.

The political leader in line to become the Netherlands' next prime minister on Friday said concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's territorial ambitions in Greenland were a "wake-up call" for Europe at a fraught time.

Centrist D66 leader Rob Jetten emphasized the need for stronger European cooperation to ensure security and prosperity — rather than focusing on the United States.

The U.N. atomic watchdog's board held a special session Friday to discuss risks to nuclear safety in Ukraine as concerns mount that relentless Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure pose an increasing danger of a nuclear accident.

The urgent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors was held at the request of the Netherlands with support from 11 other countries, diplomats said — Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom. Though it won't produce any binding outcome, the aim is to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia.