France conveyed to Iran the terms of a US-proposed ceasefire with Israel at the request of Washington in the hours leading up to the truce, a French diplomatic source has said, AFP reports.

On Monday night, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot to “inform him of the US wish for a ceasefire provided there was no Iranian retaliation,” the source said.

“Rubio asked Jean-Noel Barrot to transmit this information to Abbas Araghchi,” their Iranian counterpart, it said.

“After the call, the (French) minister spoke to his Iranian counterpart to… transmit the terms and details of the discussions (between) Americans and Israelis,” the source added.

Araghchi then indicated his “availability to continue negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme” including with France, Britain and Germany, and “after these discussions, the ceasefire was able to go into force”, it said.