Thefragile ceasefirebetween Iran and the United States is due to run out by Wednesday. A long-term agreement is yet to be finalised by the two sides. According to reports, Iran has received new proposals from the United States, and Pakistani mediators are working to arrange another round of direct negotiations. However, there is no clarity on whether a breakthrough can be achieved before the deadline, with key sticking points still unresolved, including the status ofStrait of Hormuz.
Iran's top negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said recent talks with the US had made progress, but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.
"We have had progress, but there is still a big distance between us," Ghalibaf was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. "There are some issues on which we insist ... They also have red lines. But these issues could be just one or two."
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump cited "very good conversations" with Tehran despite warning against "blackmail" over the key shipping channel.
Neither side offered any specifics about the state of negotiations on Saturday and engagement over the Strait of Hormuz.
All this is unfolding against the backdrop of rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterway, through which a significant share of the world’s oil supply passes, has once again emerged as the central pressure point in the crisis, casting a long shadow over the negotiations, after it was shut by Iran.
For Iran, the strait's closure — imposed after the US and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28 during talks over Tehran's nuclear program — is perhaps its most powerful weapon, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on President Donald Trump. For the United States, the blockade keeps up pressure and could strangle Iran's already weakened economy.
A day after announcing the opening of the critical waterway, Iran on Saturday shut the Strait of Hormuz, in retaliation to the US naval blockade.
The strait is closed until the US blockade is lifted, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy said on Saturday night. It warned that "no vessel should make any movement from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered as cooperation with the enemy" and be targeted.
Meanwhile, Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued defiant remarks on Saturday, saying the navy stands "ready to inflict bitter defeats on its enemies." He has not been seen in public since being elevated to the post following his father's death in Israel’s opening barrage.
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