The step-down in rhetoric lowers immediate strike-risk while keeping leverage focused on terms of passage through Hormuz, so Gulf exporters and insurers still face operational uncertainty until Tehran’s conditions are resolved.
U.S. President Donald Trump told Axios he is "low keying it" with Tehran and did not issue new threats of major strikes. He repeated that Iran is still the focus of pressure, but reported that no fresh U.S. military action was announced after Iran and mediators circulated updated Strait of Hormuz reopening terms. Axios said Iran’s new terms still condition strait access on war-ending steps, sanctions relief, and release of frozen Iranian assets.
Why this matters. The step-down in rhetoric lowers immediate strike-risk while keeping leverage focused on terms of passage through Hormuz, so Gulf exporters and insurers still face operational uncertainty until Tehran’s conditions are resolved.
Iran said its talks with Oman on passage through the Strait of Hormuz were advancing positively, while continuing to deny direct negotiations with Washington. A Qatari official separately said diplomatic efforts to end the war were ongoing.
Why this matters. Both sides now report progress on the same file through different rooms. A routing agreement signed in Muscat would reopen traffic without either capital having to concede the point it has been arguing about since June.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there had been progress in discussions with Iran and Oman on getting more ships through the Strait of Hormuz, while confirming no final agreement had been reached. He said the United States is involved in those Oman-Iran negotiations, and framed the sequencing: "The denuclearization of Iran is the ultimate deal. I think the immediate deal, the one that you see a lot of focus on, is the strait." The remarks followed a threat by Trump referring to decapitation.
Why this matters. This is the first American account that matches Tehran's: talks run through Oman and the strait comes before the nuclear file. It narrows the dispute from whether negotiations exist to who is sitting at the table.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X that "no negotiations have been held with the US," hours after Trump described very good and productive conversations. Ghalibaf added that "fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped."
Why this matters. The denial now comes from the speaker of parliament rather than only the foreign ministry, which makes it a position of the Iranian state rather than a spokesman's phrasing. The accusation that the claims are aimed at oil markets is itself a market-moving statement.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that a deal could be reached with Iran "today or tomorrow" to open the Strait of Hormuz to freedom of movement, saying "We are in talks with the Iranians." The claim echoed Trump's statement the previous day that talks were going on right now, and was contradicted the same day by Tehran.
Why this matters. Putting a same-week timeline on a reopening is the kind of statement freight and insurance markets price immediately, and it is being made by the department that administers the sanctions rather than by the State Department.
Trump said talks were under way and described the moment as a last chance for a deal, after the strikes he had ordered were called off. Tehran urged Washington to honour the June 17 memorandum it says the United States disregarded from the outset.
Why this matters. Each side is asking the other to start from a different document: Washington from a new deal, Tehran from the one already signed. That gap, not the strike tempo, is what has stalled every round since June.
Iran's foreign ministry said there were no negotiations underway with the United States, and that its talks were with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz. The statement directly contradicted the Monday negotiations Trump had announced the day before. Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had earlier said the strait "will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th."
Why this matters. The two capitals cannot both be right about whether talks exist, and only one channel is producing anything either side will describe. Watch Muscat for a routing arrangement, not Washington for an announcement.