Three officials tell The Associated Press that mediators were still working with Iran and the United States on a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz, with the indirect talks expected to resume on Monday.

Episodes in which the Strait of Hormuz sits at the centre of a negotiation have historically traded on the sequencing rather than the headline: markets price reopening and sanctions relief in stages, and drafts described by anonymous officials have a well-worn pattern of stalling on verification and inspection mechanics even when both sides signal progress. The structure reported here, reopening the strait first under an Oman-anchored transit arrangement with no tolls, then sanctions removal and nuclear concessions after, mirrors the usual ladder in which the reversible, shippable concession leads and the hard-to-reverse one trails, which is also where such deals have tended to break. The distinction worth drawing is between public rejection and private non-rejection: the report that official remarks may be a negotiating tactic fits a recurring pattern in indirect talks where maximalist rhetoric coexists with live mediation, and it is the private track that has historically moved crude, freight rates, and insurance premia. The actors are familiar: Oman has long served as the preferred back-channel between Washington and Tehran, and the no-tolls demand is a long-standing Iranian position rather than a new ask. The tells from here are whether talks actually resume on the stated timetable, whether the inspection demand is described as a precondition or a parallel track, and whether physical indicators, tanker traffic, war-risk premia, front-month crude spreads, begin to price de-escalation before any formal announcement. Until a signed text exists, precedent says the risk premium erodes slowly and restores quickly.