US and Iran agree to halt strikes and renew talks over Strait of Hormuz, officials say
WASHINGTON, DC: After trading military blows and carefully calibrated threats, Washington and Tehran have decided to return to the negotiating table in a bid to end the month-long conflict.
A US official reported on Sunday, June 28, that the two nations have decided to stand down from strikes, allowing commercial vessels to move freely as technical talks are scheduled to continue.
The two sides have 60 days from their signing of the memorandum of understanding earlier this month to work out the details.
Peace talks to move to Doha
US officials and a source familiar with the matter told Axios that Tuesday’s talks, which were originally planned to take place in Switzerland, moved to Doha, Qatar, after the tension flared up.
The focus also shifted to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where major disputes remain unresolved despite the MoU reached earlier this month.
“We decided to stop all the kinetic activity,” one of the US officials was quoted as saying.
Echoing the breakthrough, a US official told Reuters the agreement includes a pause in hostilities, with technical talks set to address every part of the MOU rather than focusing exclusively on Hormuz.
"Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now, and vessels can move freely," the official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.
The Axios report follows a statement from an Iranian official, claiming that Tehran did not take part in technical talks slated for Sunday due to recent attacks on the country and unfulfilled conditions of the MOU.
“For example, one of the reasons is checking if we have access to the unfrozen funds; if there is no access, then this condition has not been fulfilled,” Mehdi Fazaeili, a member of the Office of Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran’s Supreme Leader, told state television.
Tension flares up as both sides exchange strikes
Despite a ceasefire that took effect in April and the recently signed MOU, the violence has continued in the Gulf region.
On Sunday, Tehran launched drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait after new US strikes on sites in southern Iran, and threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations to end the war.
Donald Trump said that a moment might come soon when he abandoned talks, and the US would “militarily finish the job”.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” the President continued in the social media post.
Earlier on Sunday, Kuwait, which hosts a major US army base, said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and that there were no reports of injuries or damage, while Bahrain’s interior ministry said the Iranian strikes had damaged a residential building near the international airport and that no one had been killed.
