Iran has firmly denied that any negotiations are taking place with the United States, pushing back against President Donald Trump’s announcement that new talks would begin on Monday to end their six-month-long war.

The rebuttal came from Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing, where he clarified that Tehran’s only ongoing discussions are with Oman to secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz. “We are not currently negotiating with the United States,” Baqaei stated.

The Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route for global energy exports, remains a major sticking point in efforts to end the conflict. Iran has obstructed vessels attempting to pass through the strait and now insists on retaining control and charging fees, a demand the United States rejects. Tehran has refused to allow ships to use any route other than one hugging the Iranian coast.

On Sunday, Baqaei told state television that a deal with Oman on managing the strait was close. “We are now going to reach an understanding on a route acceptable to both sides — neither the northern route nor the southern route — but one that respects the sovereign rights of both sides and safeguards our national interests and security,” he said. However, he insisted that such an agreement would not amount to the reopening of the strait.

President Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, claimed that new talks with Iran would cover both the Hormuz issue and the denuclearisation of Iran. “Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” Trump said, without providing details of the venue or participants.

Trump also said he had been asked by Iran as well as US partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to hold off on further strikes, which he claimed would have been “the biggest attack since World War II”. However, Iranian media denied that Tehran had made any such request.

The war between Washington and Tehran began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched surprise strikes against Iran. While months of on-off diplomacy have led to periods of relative calm, Trump has repeatedly issued apocalyptic warnings to Tehran only to later backtrack by saying diplomacy was underway. A previous ceasefire deal, which was supposed to open the Strait of Hormuz, fell through last month.

Iranian lawmaker Hassan Ghashghavi, spokesman for the parliament’s national security commission, said on Sunday that mediators were trying to revive a US-Iran memorandum of understanding agreed in June. That agreement was intended as a stepping stone to negotiations on a comprehensive peace deal and included provisions on Hormuz.