Iran has reached an agreement with Oman on a shipping route map for the Strait of Hormuz after weeks of technical negotiations, though the deal is yet to be finalised, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told state-run Defa Press.

He said talks had made positive progress over the past three weeks “despite US obstruction,” with both sides now negotiating remaining issues, including a joint statement to be issued by Tehran and Muscat. “Despite US obstruction, the talks have made positive progress over the past three weeks and an agreement has been reached on the shipping route map,” Baghaei said.

Baghaei stressed that the arrangement was an independent agreement between the two countries aimed at ensuring safe passage through the strait while preserving their sovereignty, adding that exchanges would continue until the process was finalised.

The agreement over the route map between the two countries forms a part of broader accord to government traffic through the strategically vital strait.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he could soon declare the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the United States,” escalating his rhetoric over the strategically vital waterway. “Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States,” Trump said during remarks at the Police Academy Center for Training and Intelligence.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States has control of the Strait. Earlier this week, he told reporters, “They don’t have control. We have total control. We own it,” and said the US Navy had swept the waterway for mines.

But Iran has rejected the claim and insists that the Strait remains under its control and management. The Strait functions according to Iran, said the country’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi.

“This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” Gharibabadi posted on X.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an ‌election speech,” Gharibabadi ⁠said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran had not decided to resume talks with the U.S. He told Iranian news outlet Shahrara News in an interview published on Saturday that Washington must meet conditions on the strait in order for shipping to resume in the waterway that handled one-fifth of the world’s oil ⁠before the war.