Conflicting signals from the United States and Iran over the status of talks to end their five-month-old war boosted uncertainty on Tuesday, with the latest attack on ​shipping in the Strait of Hormuz highlighting risks to global energy flows.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the talks were under way on Monday, warning of a “last chance” ‌for Tehran to sign a good deal, but Iran denied that negotiations were being held or planned, Reuters reported.

“They are going on right now,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event when asked about the state of negotiations, saying the sides were talking at the request of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, among others.

“This is a last chance for them (Iran) to sign a good document.”

The comments followed Trump’s ​weekend decision to call off “massive attacks” he said he had authorized on Iran, as talks were to be held, repeating a pattern in which he has vowed major ​strikes only to cancel them.

Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said no negotiations with the United States were taking place ⁠and no meetings were scheduled.

Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days, he said.

Baghaei added that all Iranian negotiators were in the ​country, except for Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq. The only talks underway, he said, were discussions with Oman over management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Shipping ​activity in the Gulf only reinforced the ongoing stand-off since Iran all but shut off transits through the vital route for a fifth of global shipments of crude oil and natural gas before it was blockaded in the war.

One cargo vessel broadcast it had been hit by an unknown projectile near the strait off Oman’s coast, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said.

Traffic through Hormuz remained largely slow, with three ​tankers and three bulk carriers among the six vessels transiting the strait on Monday, down from seven the previous day, Kpler data showed.

STOCKS RISE, OIL DOWN ON HOPES FOR RESOLUTION

Still, hopes ​that U.S.-Iran tensions were easing again pushed down oil prices, while major stock indexes gained on Monday.

Brent crude futures fell about 7% to around $83.77 a barrel while the Dow closed at a record high. Asian ‌stocks and ⁠oil prices both edged higher on Tuesday.

Gulf officials and analysts say Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the Middle East’s trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation.

It hopes such a strategy will convince the United States and its allies that containing the crisis is more costly than accommodating Iran’s demands over the Strait of Hormuz.

“Their big advantage is that they can hurt the regional states and the global economy,” said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute.

In a post on Truth Social later ​on Monday, Trump called Iran’s leadership “unbelievably duplicitous,” saying ​they had asked for a meeting and ⁠more talks were set for the “immediate future.”

He also repeated his assertion that the U.S. Navy had total control over the Strait of Hormuz.

“‘The United States Wall of Steel!’ Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, ​or Total Surrender, is accomplished,” he wrote.

REPEATED PATTERN

Monday’s events appeared to fit a pattern since Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” alongside Israel more ​than five months ago. Trump ⁠has threatened military action several times, only to later cite diplomatic contacts as a reason to step back.

Iran, however, has publicly rejected negotiations with Washington since the collapse in early July of a memorandum of understanding both signed the previous month, aimed at ending the conflict.

Trump has yet to achieve the objectives he set out at the outset of the war: dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, ⁠curbing its ability ​to attack regional rivals and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers.

Repeated U.S. actions have been ​met by escalating Iranian responses against U.S. forces in the region, Washington’s Gulf Arab allies and shipping, each time ending with Trump stepping back.

The Hormuz dispute remains a central point of contention, with Washington saying the June memorandum required Iran ​to open the strategic waterway, while Tehran says the text explicitly preserved its authority over shipping traffic.

U.S. President Donald Trump said talks ​with Iran will happen on Monday but declined to set a deadline for an agreement after earlier saying he had called off an ‌imminent attack in hopes of quickly reaching a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resolve the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, Reuters reported.

Trump had said late on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the strait and “an end to ​Iran’s nuclear threat” but that Tehran must “rapidly make a DEAL.”

As he returned to Washington from a weekend in New Jersey, Trump told reporters on Sunday ​that a negotiation would begin on Monday afternoon but did not provide details of where it would take place or ⁠who would be involved.

Asked if there was a deadline for Iran to come to an agreement, Trump declined to answer. “Would I rather make a deal? I’m not ​looking to kill people because people die, a lot of people die, and we don’t want that,” Trump said in response.

Trump has repeatedly issued threats that he would ​escalate the war on Iran he launched along with Israel in late February, only to allow more time for talks, which have so far not led to a comprehensive deal.

Trump’s apparent de-escalation after days of threats of new attacks from each side was the latest twist in the war. Attacks have spread across the Gulf to the Red Sea and even a Mediterranean facility ​in Egypt.

Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the start of the war, ​causing energy prices to rise and stoking broader inflation.

The U.S. president has argued that his stated goal of keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel costs in the near ‌term, but ⁠the economic pain has put political pressure on him to find a way to end the conflict, read the report.

Oil prices were down more than 4% in early trading on Monday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held phone calls with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir to discuss diplomatic efforts, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported earlier that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages, ​citing Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Iranian Foreign ​Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said negotiations ⁠were focused on agreeing a new route through the strait, adding that it had “no link to the Strait of Hormuz being opened or closed. That is a separate discussion.”

Last month Iran publicly rejected an Omani proposal, backed by Gulf states, to manage ​the strait they share. People familiar with the matter had told Reuters the plan included the collection of voluntary fees ​for using the strait.

Eli ⁠Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said there was close security and intelligence coordination between Israel and the U.S. on everything happening in the region.

But he added: “With or without an agreement, and regardless of any external commitments, if Iran attempts to renew its nuclear program or advance its ballistic missile ⁠industries, we ​will be there. We will take action, and we will strike.”

Trump and Netanyahu met on Tuesday ​in Washington, with an Israeli official saying they had explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.

At least 14 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside ​a police station in northwestern Pakistan on ‌Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.

The explosion took place ​in the Kabal area of Swat, a district ​in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Reuters reported.

A pro-police rally of ⁠local residents was taking place in the same ​area on Sunday, but it was not immediately ​clear whether the rally was the intended target.

Fida Hussain, a regional police official, said the victims included five police officers and ​eight civilians. The 14th person was believed to ​be the suicide bomber, he told Reuters.

At least 18 people ‌were ⁠wounded, according to a police statement. It said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone who may have assisted the attack.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif ​in a statement ​expressed “deep grief ⁠and sorrow over the suicide blast”.