Trump calls talks Iran's 'last chance' as Tehran denies negotiating with Washington

What happened

• Trump announced the talks on Sunday aboard Air Force One en route to Egypt, saying he had called off a strike wave.
• Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said talks with Oman concern a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz.
• Brent crude fell five percent on Monday to below $84; AAA put the US average gasoline price at $4.10.
• CNN reported that CENTCOM's intelligence branch asked analysts for "creative and unconventional" ways to pressure and punish Iran.
• The war began with Operation Epic Fury on 28 February; a ceasefire memorandum signed on 18 June has since broken down.

The view from outside

The Guardian counts this as the 12th time Trump has called off threatened strikes in the war. El País reads the reversal as a sign Iran's bargaining position has held through five months of fighting, at a moment of low domestic support for the war ahead of the US midterms on 3 November.

What could happen next

• Trump said the venue would be named Monday or Tuesday; mediators told the WSJ that Pakistan offered to host the next round.
• Mediators say the Hormuz route proposal awaits an IRGC response, after Iran added demands for oil-sanctions relief and a no-attack guarantee.
• Senior Arab officials told the WSJ any deal must bar Iranian attacks on their territory, directly or through proxies.
• Trump set full reopening of the strait as phase one and denuclearisation as a longer phase two.