ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - US President Donald Trump on Monday hit out at the Iranian leadership for denying that any talks are underway with Washington, insisting that the US Navy controls the Strait of Hormuz and that only a deal or "Total Surrender" will lead to the lifting of the blockade.

"Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "They ask for a meeting, some would say 'beg,' talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with 'Oman.'"

Trump has alternated between threatening Iran and asserting that a deal is almost at hand, saying earlier on Monday that "now what we're doing is we're talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon," coming merely one day after he announced that planned strikes on vital Iranian infrastructure had been cancelled owing to diplomatic progress.

Responding to the comments, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Monday said that "we are not currently negotiating with the United States. Our negotiations are with Oman to secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz."

Iran and Oman, both littoral states to the strategic waterway that has been restricted by Iran since the beginning of the conflict, are reportedly nearing an agreement to manage the strait, with Tehran insisting that transit "will never return to the pre-war situation."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said that negotiations between Iran and Oman were "entering their final stages" after several rounds of discussion.

"They then go on to give their usual blather in saying, the Strait of Hormuz will be operated powerfully by them, when it is already completely controlled by the United States Navy and our 'Blockade'," Trump complained in his Truth Social post.

After a memorandum of understanding with Iran collapsed and reignited hostilities, the US has reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports, with the US military as of Sunday claiming to have redirected 35 vessels, boarded two, and disabled two since its reimposition on July 14.

"Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished. Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades."

The US president has repeatedly balked at Iran's pledge to exact tolls from vessels transiting the strait, a provision that was not in place before the conflict broke out.

Any potential peace deal would require the "Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat," Trump said previously.

Baghaei on Sunday insisted that any prospective arrangement with Oman regarding Hormuz would not lead to the immediate reopening of the strait amid the ongoing conflict.