As the two-weekceasefirenears an end, Iran has said it remains “still far from a final agreement” with the United States. In a televised interview, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said talks had yielded limited results but major differences remained. Despite ongoing negotiations, tensions over the Strait of Hormuz and key nuclear demands continue to stall progress, according to reports.

“On some issues, conclusions have been reached in the negotiations, and on others not; we are still far from a final agreement,” he said. In a separate address, he added, "We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain."

The remarks come as a fragile two-week ceasefire. Ghalibaf insisted Iran had entered the truce from a position of strength. "We were victorious in the field," he said, adding that the United States failed to achieve its objectives. "If we accepted the ceasefire, it was because they accepted our demands."

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No date has been set for the next round of negotiations between Iran and the United States, Iran's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday, adding that a framework of understanding must be agreed first. The ‌highest-level US-Iran talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in Islamabad without agreement last weekend.

US President Donald Trump has told Reuters there would probably be more direct talks this weekend, though some diplomats said that was unlikely given the logistics of convening in Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.

"We are now focusing on finalising ⁠the framework of understanding between two sides. We don't want to enter into any negotiation or meeting which is doomed to fail and which can be a pretext for another round of escalation," Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum in the southern Turkish province of Antalya.

"Until we agree the framework, we cannot set the date... There was significant progress made actually. But then the maximalist approach by the other side, trying to make Iran an exception from international law prevented us to reach an agreement," he said, ‌referring ⁠to U.S. demands over Iran's nuclear programme.

"I have to be very crystal clear that Iran would not accept to be an exception from the international law. Anything that we are going to be committed will be within the international regulations and international law."

Asked about reports that Iran again closed the ⁠Strait of Hormuz on Saturday after its temporary reopening following a separate US-brokered 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, Khatibzadeh said Iran had announced it would allow the safe passage of commercial ⁠vessels in line with the terms of the truce.

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