Iranian Official Denies Reports of Flexibility on Nuclear Stance

The denial matters less as a factual correction than as a signal about the state of play: Tehran is framing the nuclear file as a distraction from what it describes as a US stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, which inverts the usual hierarchy of the two issues. That framing suggests the nuclear track is currently being held in reserve rather than negotiated, and that any reported movement on it should be treated skeptically. Whether the Hormuz standoff, rather than the nuclear question, becomes the operative arena is the open question.