Iran said on Monday it was not currently holding negotiations with the United States, while a regional official said there was “significant” progress in ongoing mediation efforts amid a halt in recent fighting between the two sides. “At present, we are not engaged in any negotiations with the United States,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, denying reports that Iran had requested talks. “Mediators may convey messages to us from the American side regarding ongoing developments in the region. But at present, we have no negotiations with the American side,” Baghaei added.
US President Donald Trump ordered a halt to daily strikes on Iran over the weekend, with UN ambassador Mike Waltz saying Washington remained “locked and loaded” for more attacks and that “more assets have gone into the region,” but that Trump was “giving talks some space — he’s giving it a little bit of room.”The two regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press to discuss the sensitive regional talks, said mediators led by Qatar and Pakistan were working to bridge the gap between Washington and Tehran to return to an interim ceasefire deal that had been largely undermined by the recent exchanges of fire.
One of the regional officials who spoke to AP Monday described the progress made in mediation efforts as “significant.” He said mediators were working with Iran and Oman on a mechanism for managing vessels’ transit through the Strait of Hormuz, which was the trigger for the latest round of strikes and counterstrikes between Iran and the US. Baghaei also said on Monday that the US is not involved in the talks with Oman over the administration of the Hormuz. “These talks have no connection with the United States. They are a bilateral matter between Iran and Oman, and they are continuing,” Baghaei said, adding that the waterway “remains closed.” (Ed note: Who's lying? We do know that if the Iranians lips are moving, they are lying.) (Read More)
