US President Donald Trump said he was lifting a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, even as Iran denied his claim that negotiations were taking place on the fate of its nuclear programme, a resolution to which Trump conditioned lifting the naval siege.

Trump's 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.

Trump conditioned the lifting of the US's 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's highly enriched uranium. The US bombed three Iranian facilities in June 2025.

"The enriched material, sometimes referred to as "Nuclear Dust," which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains…will be unearthed by the United States…in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED," Trump wrote on his Truthsocial platform on Friday.

As a result, Trump said that "Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of "heading home!"

But Iran said on Friday that "no negotiations" were taking place over its nuclear programme, and a deal had not been finalised.

"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.

'Mixture of truth and lies'

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".

It said Trump's remarks that the deal included the extraction and destruction of Iran's highly enriched uranium were "fundamentally baseless".

The global energy markets have, so far, responded to Trump's optimistic posts.

Trump said that he was going to the White House situation room "to make a final determination" on extending the ceasefire based on the points he laid out.

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.

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's blockade.

But the other 2,000 ships stuck in the Gulf are not transiting because of Iran's own stranglehold over Hormuz. The Islamic Republic has allowed some vessels to transit if they pay a toll or negotiate directly with Tehran.