Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that the United States and Iran were close to a deal over the Strait of Hormuz despite their hardened positions towards the lingering standoff.

Pakistan has remained actively engaged with regional partners to defuse the crisis, even as the Strait of Hormuz dispute remains a key obstacle to a wider settlement in the Gulf.

Asif told Bloomberg that Washington and Tehran were “close to some sort of arrangement” over the near-closed strait, which has been the sticking point to stall talks between the two warring sides.

His remarks came as Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met the Iranian leadership in Tehran as part of Islamabad’s renewed push for resolution of the Hormuz standoff and the subsequent resumption of stalled talks.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Naqvi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed key diplomatic and bilateral issues, without giving further details.

He also met his Iranian counterpart.

A Pakistani government source told Anadolu that Naqvi would share “some new proposals” with the Iranian leadership to resolve the standoff, which continues to take a toll on the global economy and trade.

The source, however, did not give details of the fresh proposals.

Naqvi, along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, have been actively involved in the mediation process.

Asif also said that “things are shaping up in favour of peace”, but did not give details of any breakthrough.

“The signals in the last two or three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement,” he added.

READ: Iran says deal on Strait of Hormuz is close but is not enough to open the waterway

A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson said earlier today that talks between Iran and Oman about reopening Hormuz to some maritime shipping had reached an “advanced stage”.

The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 and launched negotiations toward a final agreement. However, the talks later stalled over disagreements on security guarantees and freedom of navigation through Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategic routes for global energy supplies and trade.

On July 8-24, the US and Iran exchanged military strikes, with Washington launching attacks on targets inside Iran and Tehran responding by striking what it described as US military facilities and equipment in several Arab countries, including Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.