India, Aug. 6 -- Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghchi said on Wednesday that Tehran and Muscat had settled on the geographic coordinates of a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, and that a joint statement was in "the final stages of review and drafting".

He added a caveat: the process would need to proceed without interference from "certain third parties" - a phrase that the Associated Press said appeared to refer to the United States - state news agency IRNA reported.

Negotiators from the two countries are now waiting on sign-off from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, two regional officials briefed on the talks told AP. Khamenei has not appeared in public since the opening days of the war, when h...