Iran’s Foreign Ministry has maintained that Tehran is negotiating only with Oman over maritime arrangements and is not engaged in direct talks with the United States. Iranian spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday: “We are not currently negotiating with the United States.” Tehran views control of the waterway as its strongest remaining source of leverage against the United States. The United States has rejected Iran’s demand to impose mandatory payments on ships passing through the Strait. Reuters reported that the United States has used “virtually all” of its available ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles during the five-month conflict, as well as slightly less than half of its global Tomahawk cruise-missile stockpile.