By Mukesh 
The crucial Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the United States lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports, Tehran said Saturday, as a top official warned that a final peace deal remained “far” off.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a televised address that there has been “progress” in talks with Washington “but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain.”
“We are still far from the final discussion,” said Mr. Ghalibaf, one of Tehran’s negotiators in the talks aimed at ending the war launched by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic.
— AFP