![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-31-at-8.24.47-AM.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By\u00a0Sean Mathews<\/p>\n
US<\/a>\u00a0President Donald Trump said he was lifting a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, even as\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0denied his claim that negotiations were taking place on the fate of its nuclear programme, a resolution to which Trump conditioned lifting the naval siege.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s murky statement on Friday is one of several he has made in recent days suggesting a deal to end the war is at hand, only for the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz to continue as a fragile ceasefire between the two sides prevents a wider flare-up in fighting.<\/p>\n Trump conditioned the lifting of the US\u2019s blockade on Iran agreeing not to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz and allowing the US access to damaged nuclear facilities in order to destroy Iran\u2019s highly enriched uranium. The US bombed three Iranian facilities in June 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe enriched material, sometimes referred to as \u201cNuclear Dust,\u201d which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains\u2026will be unearthed by the United States\u2026in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truthsocial platform on Friday.<\/p>\n As a result, Trump said that \u201cShips caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of \u201cheading home!\u201d<\/p>\n But Iran said on Friday that \u201cno negotiations” were taking place over its nuclear programme, and a deal had not been finalised.<\/p>\n “Regarding the understanding, as I said while speaking to you, exchanges of messages are continuing, but no final agreement has been reached yet,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state media.<\/p>\n Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Trump’s latest comments were a “mixture of truth and lies\u201d.<\/p>\n It said Trump\u2019s remarks that the deal included the extraction and destruction of Iran\u2019s highly enriched uranium were \u201cfundamentally baseless”.<\/p>\n The global energy markets have, so far, responded to Trump’s optimistic posts.<\/p>\n Trump said that he was going to the White House situation room \u201cto make a final determination\u201d on extending the ceasefire based on the points he laid out.<\/p>\n Brent Crude, the international benchmark, fell 1.5 percent on Friday. It is down about 15 percent since the start of the month on expectations that Iran and the US will expand their ceasefire, allowing vessels and energy to flow through the Strait of Hormuz again.<\/p>\n But the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed on both sides. Iranian vessels and those loaded with Iranian oil are not able to transit the waterway because of the US\u2019s blockade.<\/p>\n But the other 2,000 ships stuck in the Gulf are not transiting because of Iran\u2019s own stranglehold over Hormuz. The Islamic Republic has allowed some vessels to transit if they pay a toll or negotiate directly with Tehran.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s social media post rejected this system. \u201cThe Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions,\u201d Trump added, calling on Iran to remove any mines in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n “Trump claimed that Iran was obligated to open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, even though no such clause appears in the text of the agreement,” Fars said.<\/p>\n Iran wants sanctions relief and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in funds held abroad as part of any ceasefire extension. Such an agreement, according to reports and analysts, would only be a stepping stone for deeper talks.<\/p>\n Trump ruled out the unlocking of frozen funds in a social media post, saying, \u201cNo money will be exchanged, until further notice\u201d. It\u2019s unclear whether that language applies only to frozen funds or to waivers allowing Iran to sell its oil on the global market without sanctions.<\/p>\n Senior diplomats were huddling as talks progressed. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar travelled to Washington, DC, where he met his counterpart, Marco Rubio, on Friday. Islamabad has been a key intermediary between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a call with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, on Friday.<\/p>\n Muscat was mediating between the two sides before the US and Israel attacked Iran in February. This week, Trump threatened to \u201cblow up\u201d Oman if it agreed to work on a fee system with Iran for the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n‘Mixture of truth and lies’<\/h3>\n