US and Iranian negotiators have met in Pakistan for their highest-level talks in half a century to try to end the war, as President Donald Trump says his military had sunk Tehran's mine-layers and was clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
The status of the waterway, which lies on Iran's southern coast, was one of the main points on the agenda in Islamabad for the first direct US-Iranian talks in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"We're now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favour to Countries all over the World," Trump posted, adding that 28 Iranian mine-dropping vessels had been destroyed.
Iran's state-affiliated Nournews called that "false news".
Amid conflicting reports on what was happening, Iranian state TV added that no US ships had crossed the strait, a crucial transit point for global energy supplies that Tehran has effectively blocked but Trump has vowed to reopen.
Trump's Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner flew in on Saturday and met Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi for two hours before a break, according to a source from mediator Pakistan.
The Iranian delegation had arrived on Friday dressed in black in mourning for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the six-week war.
They carried shoes and bags of some students killed during the US bombing of a school next to a military compound, the Iranian government said.
The war has sent global oil prices soaring, killed thousands of people and seen unprecedented hits on Gulf Arab states.
Amid conflicting versions from officials and media in both nations, the US and Iranian sides appeared to remain far apart.
Before the talks began, a senior Iranian source told Reuters the US had agreed to release frozen assets in Qatar and other foreign banks. But a US official swiftly denied that.
As well as release of assets abroad, Tehran is demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz, payment of war reparations and a ceasefire across the region including in Lebanon, according to Iranian state TV and officials.
Trump's stated goals have varied during the campaign, but as a minimum, he wants free passage for global shipping through the strait and the crippling of Iran's nuclear enrichment program to ensure it cannot produce an atomic bomb.
US ally Israel, which joined the February 28 attacks on Iran that launched the war, has also been bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, killing nearly 2000 people.
Israel and the US have said Lebanon is not part of the Iran-US ceasefire.
"We will negotiate with our finger on the trigger," Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on state TV.
"While we are open to talks, we are also fully aware of the lack of trust; therefore, Iran's diplomatic team is entering this process with maximum caution".
Tehran's agenda includes aiming to collect transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about 20 per cent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
The biggest ever disruption has fed inflation and slowed the global economy, with an impact expected to last for months even if negotiators succeed in reopening the strait.
Nevertheless, three Liberian and Chinese-flagged supertankers did pass through the strait on Saturday, shipping data showed, marking what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since last week's US-Iran ceasefire.
For the US-Iran talks, Islamabad, a city of just over two million people, was under unprecedented lockdown with thousands of paramilitary personnel and army troops on the streets.
