US, Iran pausing strikes for talks to proceed
Washington—A US official said on Sunday that Washington and Tehran agreed to halt attacks after new tit-for-tat strikes strained their interim deal, with the sides planning to renew talks aimed at ending the Middle East war.
The exchanges have underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered agreement to end the conflict that has killed thousands and snarled the flow of oil shipments through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Although a ceasefire took effect in April, sporadic violence has flared up in the Gulf region, with traffic in the strait serving as a regular flashpoint.
“Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU (memorandum of agreement),” a US official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in an email on Sunday, referring to the memorandum of understanding struck between Washington and Tehran.
“Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely” in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the official added.
Iran has not immediately commented on the US statement, and the US official did not confirm a US media report that talks would resume on Tuesday in Qatar.
Tehran has insisted on controlling passage through the vital strait, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas travel in peacetime. It did not have that control before the war.
Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday that any attempt by ships to bypass its preferred route through Hormuz would “increase tensions” in the Middle East.
The strait comprises Omani and Iranian territorial waters, but under customary international law the two cannot generally block passage or charge tolls.
Nevertheless, Iran prevented most ships from using the narrow waterway during the war, granting it enormous economic leverage which it appears reluctant to give up.
Tehran’s enforcement of its control has sparked repeated flare-ups with Washington, the latest of which came on Sunday, when US Central Command said it had attacked 10 Iranian military targets over “continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping.”
Iran said it retaliated with strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Both Kuwait and Bahrain denounced the Iranian attacks.
