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Iran’s top negotiator said Sunday the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed until the US meets seven conditions laid out in a deal the two sides signed in June, with back-channel talks going nowhere and both countries bracing for a possible return to full-scale fighting.

Getting into it: Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf acknowledged the US had sent “some proposals through a mediator” after Iran laid out how it would reopen the strait within seven days, but said Tehran isn’t budging and its stance is still “clear and definite.”

Iran’s demands include ending the fighting, lifting the US naval blockade of its ports, releasing frozen assets and easing sanctions, all based on the memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad, which led to a brief ceasefire that later collapsed.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the US proposals were “more or less in line with their previous positions,” focusing on Iran’s nuclear program, while Tehran wants to deal with the strait first. He also shot down reports that Iran was willing to open its nuclear sites to UN inspectors if the US lifted sanctions. An official briefed on the talks said the main disagreement is over the order of steps, not what’s in the plan.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran still hopes the US chooses diplomacy, but warned, “If they again move towards military solutions, we are more prepared than before and will take whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves.” Iran’s army also said it’s working on longer-range missiles, and a source in Tehran told The National that Iranian assessments are that “the war is resuming.”

This all comes as the Pentagon moves a third aircraft carrier and thousands more Marines into the Middle East as President Trump considers hitting Iran again once the November midterms are over. As we reported on Instagram, the USS Theodore Roosevelt left San Diego on Sunday, followed Monday by the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group carrying the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, together adding about 9,000 to 10,000 sailors and Marines. They’re expected to arrive by late November, joining the USS George Washington and USS George H.W. Bush already in the region, along with roughly 20 Navy ships enforcing the US blockade of Iranian ports and more than 50,000 US troops.

If all three carriers end up in the region together, it would be the first time since April that the US has had three there, giving Trump up to 150 fighter jets and nearly 20,000 troops on carriers alone.