Iran Says Talks With US ‘far From Final’, Rubbishes Trump’s Claims About Handing Over Enriched Uranium

3 min readApr 19, 2026 03:42 PM IST

A day after shutting down the Strait of Hormuz again and firing at oil tankers, including one India-flagged tanker, Tehran has dashed any hopes of a quick resolution of the West Asia conflict that erupted after joint US and Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran is not yet ready to hold the next round of in-person talks with US officials, a senior Iranian official said Saturday, blaming Washington’s unwillingness to move away from “maximalist” demands on key issues.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh asserted his country won’t hand over enriched uranium to Washington, rubbishing claims made by US President Donald Trump, in an interview with The Associated Press.

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Separately, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that while “progress has been made” in peace negotiations, US and Iran sides are “far from final discussion”.

“There are some issues on which we insist… They also have red lines. But these issues could be just one or two,” Ghalibaf said while speaking to local media. “We are still far from the final discussion,” he added.

Strait of Hormuz blockade

Ahead of the looming ceasefire deadline, Iran doubled down on its pledge to restrict ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remains in place. Ghalibaf, who is Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States, slammed the US blockade as a “naive decision made out of ignorance.”

The blockades have complicated Pakistani-led mediation attempts and raised questions about whether the truce can be extended beyond its deadline. “It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,” Ghalibaf said in the interview aired on state television late Saturday.

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He said Iran still was seeking peace despite deep-seated distrust of the United States.“The gaps remain wide and some fundamental issues are still unresolved,” he said.

Iran had announced the strait’s reopening after a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon took hold on Friday. But after US President Donald Trump said their blockade of Iran’s ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States, Iran said it would continue enforcing its restrictions in the strait.

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Strait of Hormuz blockade

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