Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stated flatly that "we are not currently negotiating with the United States," and that Tehran’s discussions concern Oman and the management of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump, who had announced Monday negotiations aboard Air Force One on Sunday, responded on Truth Social by calling Iran’s leadership "unbelievably duplicitous," insisting they had asked for a meeting, that talks had begun and more were scheduled, and that Tehran was denying it publicly while dealing only with Oman. No independent confirmation of a US-Iran channel was available, and no level, venue or participants were specified on either side. This tracker logs both statements without adjudicating between them.

[CNN] [Spokesman/AFP] [Al Jazeera]

The Omani track is narrower than the headline suggests. Baghaei described the arrangement under discussion as a temporary route to ensure the safety of shipping — a single path with separate entry and exit lanes — and said explicitly that it is distinct from the question of whether the strait as a whole reopens or stays closed. Foreign Minister Araghchi said the Tehran-Muscat discussions are in their final stages, and Iranian diplomats told the Financial Times a new management arrangement was close. Iran has shown no sign of granting the free passage Trump has demanded.

[Bloomberg] [Spokesman/AFP] [CNBC]

Pressed by reporters on what makes this round different, given he has called off attacks before, Trump said he wanted to give Tehran "every last chance before decapitation," while also saying he faces no time constraints because he is not seeking re-election. He disputed Iran’s claim to control the strait, asserting the waterway is already completely controlled by the US Navy, and said he would not permit Iran to charge transit tolls. Separately, a regional official involved in mediation told the Associated Press that the weekend proposal covers a return to negotiations, a reopening of the strait, and a halt to attacks across the region including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq against Gulf states and Jordan.

[JPost] [CNN] [CNBC]

CENTCOM said it continues to enforce its blockade and has now redirected 44 commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz since reimposing the measure in mid-July — up from the 35 reported a day earlier, meaning the counter-blockade tightened by nine vessels while both capitals described diplomacy. Ship traffic through the waterway remains at a fraction of normal.

[Al Jazeera] [CNBC]

Brent crude fell about 4.5 percent to just over $83 a barrel on Araghchi’s final-stages comment — the market reading the Omani track as progress. Analysts were less certain: BMI, the research unit of Fitch Solutions, said a broader understanding on reopening the strait remains achievable this quarter but simultaneously raised the probability of its escalation scenario to 35 percent from 25 percent, citing mounting military and diplomatic pressure.

[Bloomberg] [CNBC]

Houthi drones and missiles threatened six Saudi-flagged supertankers in the Gulf of Aden, extending the blockade pressure that has already rerouted Saudi cargo around the Cape of Good Hope. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre reported an explosion in close proximity to a tanker about 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, at the mouth of the strait late Sunday, with vessel and crew safe and ships advised to transit with caution. The IRGC said its fighters in northwestern Iran stand ready for any miscalculation by extra-regional enemies.

[Guardian] [CNBC] [Al Jazeera]

In Gaza, the Board of Peace said Israeli forces will withdraw fully beyond the Yellow Line in the east once Hamas completes weapons decommissioning, while the Israeli army said it had killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Mahmoud Fatair in Deir el-Balah over the weekend. Late-arriving reporting also logged an August 2 strike on military operatives and sites in Gaza City with thirteen casualties, recorded here because it reached this tracker after the Day 156 brief was closed. In the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, Palestinian-American residents and their property were targeted in a surge of settler violence. Logged as secondary theater.

[Al Jazeera] [BBC] [Guardian]

Tracker status holds at WAR RESUMED. Day 157 is the first real test of the Day 156 breakthrough, and it did not survive contact: the two principals cannot agree that a negotiation exists. What is verifiable is narrower than either account — an Omani-mediated technical arrangement for a temporary shipping lane, explicitly separate from reopening the strait. Meanwhile the US blockade tightened by nine vessels, tankers were threatened in the Gulf of Aden and near Khasab, and the President reintroduced the language of decapitation. The strait stays closed; the status does not change on announcements.