Iran live updates: Tehran says no US talks ongoing

Trump this weekend again pulled back from resuming major strikes on Iran.

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.

Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.

The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.

In his weekly press conference on Monday morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that ongoing talks with Oman are strictly about the Strait of Hormuz and that "the issues related to Iran and the United States should be examined in the next stages to see in which direction the situation will go."

"We will have to wait a while to see whether this stage and this process can be connected to another process that leads to a reduction in tension in the region," Baqaei said when asked whether an agreement with Oman was actually the beginning of talks with the U.S.

Baqaei also spoke about the substance of the Strait of Hormuz negotiations, saying talks have focused on agreeing on a single corridor for ships to cross through, rather than the divided northern and southern routes that currently exist.

He also addressed the ongoing diplomatic tensions between Iran and Ukraine after Ukraine struck an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea a few weeks ago, as part of its campaign to target ships linked to Russia near the Russian coast.

"We will definitely take whatever action is necessary, both to hold Ukraine accountable and to ensure that such a mistake and crime is not repeated by the Ukrainian side again," Baqaei said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a television interview on Sunday that "under no circumstances" will the Strait of Hormuz return to its pre-war situation, regardless of ongoing talks with Oman, according to a readout published by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that negotiations with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their "final stages," but Baqaei said that did not mean that the strategic waterway would be fully reopened as it was before the U.S. and Israel launched their military campaign in February.

"We must ensure that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be misused by parties that have committed aggression against Iran. This requires a mechanism in which Iran's sovereign rights are fully respected," Baqaei sa