Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the country is not holding talks with the U.S., rejecting claims made by President Donald Trump, who said he called off strikes due to such a development.
The official claimed that the country is only having conversations with Oman about navigation through the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to "determine, at the earliest opportunity and in consultation with Oman, a route that is naturally temporary and based on which the safety of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz can be ensured."
"This agreement (with Oman) is solely about the mechanism and future shipping route while preserving the sovereign rights of both countries and has no connection to whether the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed," he added.
The spokesperson noted that the route being discussed would be temporary and be a single corridor, rather than two. "Whether this stage and this process can be connected to another process that leads to a reduction of tensions in the region, we must wait and see," he said.
CNN noted that despite the contrasting remarks, up to five million barrels of crude are flowing through the lane closer to Oman. That is about 25% of the pre-war flow.
Elsewhere, Baghaei took aim at the Trump administration, saying it "violated all of its commitments, reinstated the illegal maritime blockade, revoked the authorization for the sale of Iranian oil, and effectively declared almost all of the other commitments it had accepted under the memorandum null and void." He claimed that until that while that scenario continues, "naturally no significant change will occur in the situation of the Strait of Hormuz."
Trump, on his end, had said he had given the order to halt attacks as talks would resume to end the war. He said in a social media post on Saturday night that his administration was asked "by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to," including the "Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat."
"Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL," Trump added in the publication.
The following day he told press that "what we're doing is we're talking to them in the form of a negotiation," which is set to begin on Monday. He did not disclose where the conversations would take place or who will be a part of them.
