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A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Thursday that gaps had narrowed, although uranium enrichment and the Strait of Hormuz remained key sticking points.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsen Naqvi yesterday met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for the second time in two days in a bid to secure a breakthrough. A delayed visit to Tehran by Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir may also signal progress in the talks.

During the meeting, the two officials reviewed the latest proposals to end the war and resolve remaining disagreements between the US and Iran, Tasnim news agency reported.

Munir had been due in Tehran on Thursday, but his visit was postponed because of a lack of progress in the talks. Pakistan may also seek to involve China as a mediator. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is due in Beijing today.

Oil prices and stock markets rose yesterday as traders tracked developments in the Middle East, alongside mixed corporate earnings and positive economic data.

Despite the cautiously positive tone, future control of the Strait of Hormuz and Washington’s demand that Tehran export its stockpile of highly enriched uranium remain major obstacles.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump said the US would eventually take control of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which Washington believes is intended for nuclear weapons, although Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.

“We will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters before Trump’s remarks that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had ordered that the uranium not be sent abroad.

Trump also criticised Tehran’s reported plan to charge fees on ships using the Strait of Hormuz.

“We want it open, we want it free. We don’t want tolls,” Trump said. “It’s an international waterway.”

Rubio likewise accused Iran of “trying to create a tolling system” and persuade Oman to join it.

“There is not a country in the world that should accept that,” Rubio said.

In April, Pakistan hosted the only direct negotiations between US and Iranian officials since the war began, with Munir helping mediate the talks.

But the negotiations ultimately failed, with Tehran accusing Washington of making “excessive demands”. Since then, the two sides have exchanged multiple proposals while the threat of renewed conflict has persisted.

“It’s right on the borderline, believe me,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “If we don’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We’re all ready to go.”

Al Jazeera yesterday reported, citing the US military’s Central Command (Centcom), that the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is “maintaining peak readiness” in the Arabian Sea.

Trump also faces domestic pressure ahead of the November midterm elections, with Americans angered by rising fuel prices and his approval rating near its lowest point since returning to the White House last year.

Tehran submitted its latest proposal to the US earlier this week.

Iranian descriptions of the proposal suggest it largely repeats terms Trump has previously rejected, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, sanctions relief, the release of frozen assets and the withdrawal of US troops.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said 35 ships, including oil tankers and container vessels, transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours.

The IRGC said the movements took place with its permission and coordination.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives unexpectedly cancelled a Thursday vote on a resolution seeking to end the Iran war unless Trump obtained congressional authorisation, two days after a similar measure advanced in the Senate.

The vote had been scheduled for late Thursday, just before lawmakers left Washington for the Memorial Day recess.