Any agreements concluded between Iran and Oman are of no importance to us, reports Al Jazeera citing a US source

Episodes of this kind sit in the recurring pattern of back-channel contacts around Gulf tensions, where third-party mediation, typically by Oman given its standing as a go-between on Iran files, has historically preceded any formal US engagement. Washington publicly disavowing the mediator's output is a familiar move: it preserves leverage and denies the appearance of negotiation while contacts continue informally, and past sequences of this sort have tended to run denial, quiet channel, then eventual acknowledgment. The operative details here are the blockade remaining in place alongside a de-mined, open strait, a combination that separates the insurance and freight channel from the sanctions channel: cleared waterways ease war-risk premia and shipping rates, while a maintained blockade keeps pressure on Iranian exports and the enforcement risk around sanctioned barrels. Denials of scheduled talks are worth treating as tactical rather than terminal, since comparable denials in earlier episodes have often preceded resumed contact. The follow-ons are any reciprocal statement from Tehran or Muscat, tanker-tracking evidence of actual flows through the strait, and whether other US officials echo or soften the line. As a source-based report carried by a regional outlet, the signal is directional on diplomacy, mechanical on shipping.