NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department's criminal case accusing China's Huawei of misleading banks about the tech company's business in Iran, among other charges, is heading toward a January 2026 trial.

The case, which has strained U.S.-China ties, began in 2018 with a sealed indictment that led to Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, being detained in Vancouver, Canada, on a U.S. warrant. As part of a 2021 deal, the charges against her were eventually dismissed.

The broader case against Huawei is pending. Huawei has pleaded not guilty.

At a status conference on Thursday in Brooklyn, New York, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Solomon told U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly that "settlement discussions ended in an impasse. We believe it would be prudent to schedule a trial date."

The judge said she thought a "good placeholder" date for the trial to start would be the beginning of January 2026.

Solomon said prosecutors expect the trial to last four to six months.

Douglas Axel, a lawyer for Huawei, said the company has a pending motion to split the case, a step prosecutors suggested they would oppose.

Huawei was indicted in 2018 as U.S. prosecutors accused the company of misleading HSBC and other banks about its business in Iran, which is subject to U.S. sanctions.

In 2020, the Justice Department added more charges to the case, including that Huawei allegedly conspired to steal trade secrets from six U.S. technology companies and helped Iran track protesters during anti-government demonstrations in 2009.