Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Saturday night that there has been “progress" in negotiations with the United States.
Speaking to the Tasnim news agency, Ghalibf also cautioned that a “big distance" remains between the sides on the proposed details of any agreement to end the war.
“The American and Iranian negotiating teams now have a more realistic understanding of each other" despite the gaps, said the Iranian speaker.
Ghalibaf’s comments came after US President Donald Trump told reporters that negotiations are "going actually along very well," and that Iran "can't blackmail us."
Meanwhile on Saturday, Iran announced that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz, stating it will continue to control the Strait until the end of the war.
A Fox News report cited a regional intelligence source who confirmed that the Strait of Hormuz is now under full control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and has been shut.
Speaking to reporters aboard the Air Force One on Friday night, Trump said, "Maybe I won’t extend" the ceasefire with Iran, "but the blockade is going to remain. But maybe I won’t extend it, so you’ll have a blockade and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again."
Earlier Friday, Trump told CBS News in an interview that Iran has "agreed to everything" and will cooperate with the United States to remove its enriched uranium from the country.
Trump made clear that the operation will not involve American ground troops. When asked who would retrieve the material, he responded only with "our people."
"No. No troops," he said. "We'll go down and get it with them, and then we'll take it. We'll be getting it together because by that time, we'll have an agreement and there's no need for fighting when there's an agreement. Nice right? That's better. We would have done it the other way if we had to."
Iran's Foreign Ministry denied Trump’s remarks, saying the country's stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred "anywhere".
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state media that "the transfer of uranium to the US has not been presented as an option."
He stressed, “Iran’s enriched uranium is as sacred to us as the soil of Iran and will under no circumstances be transferred anywhere."