Tehran on Monday firmly denied that it is engaged in direct negotiations with the United States, even as diplomatic efforts to defuse the standoff between the two countries continued through regional intermediaries.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters in Tehran that "there are currently no negotiations with the United States," pushing back against suggestions from Washington that a bilateral dialogue was underway. He added that Iran's engagement was instead focused on a separate channel: talks with Oman concerning the management of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
That Oman-mediated track appears to be advancing quickly. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told cabinet members on Sunday that "negotiations with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz are in their final stages" and "on the way to being finalized," according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. Araghchi's remarks came just after President Trump said Washington would hold off on further military action against Iran to allow room for diplomacy, a decision he said came at the request of regional governments.
"We are close to an understanding on Hormuz," a source close to the Omani mediation effort said, describing the arrangement as focused on shipping routes and traffic coordination rather than a wholesale reopening or closure of the strait.
Despite the apparent momentum on the maritime file, the broader political relationship between Washington and Tehran remains deeply strained. Iranian officials have repeatedly rejected the idea that they are prepared to sit down directly with US counterparts, with one senior figure previously describing a return to dialogue with Washington as "not in our DNA." That comment, made in the days before the latest exchange, underscored the depth of mistrust that continues to shadow any prospective negotiation.
Regional powers have stepped in to try to bridge the gap. Qatar and Pakistan have both been cited in recent days as active mediators pushing to revive a broader understanding between the US and Iran after an earlier framework collapsed. Diplomatic sources say the two countries have floated new proposals aimed at restarting indirect, technical-level discussions, even as hardliners in Tehran continue to resist any formal negotiation with Washington.
President Trump, for his part, has repeatedly signaled optimism, saying at various points that "a deal is imminent" and that negotiations could resume "Monday afternoon." Iranian officials have consistently rejected characterizations of an imminent breakthrough, insisting that any dialogue with the US would first require Washington to meet Tehran's conditions, including on sanctions relief and the normalization of Iran's oil exports.
The result is a diplomatic picture with two distinct tracks moving at different speeds: a fast-progressing, narrowly defined negotiation between Iran and Oman over Hormuz shipping, and a stalled, more contentious political track between Tehran and Washington that remains dependent on regional mediators to keep alive. Analysts following the crisis say the distinction matters, since conflating the two risks overstating the actual state of US-Iran diplomacy.
For now, Tehran's official position is unambiguous: no direct talks with the United States, but continued, and reportedly near-final, discussions with Oman on the future of one of the world's most strategically sensitive waterways.