After delaying further strikes against the Middle Eastern nation of Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that talks with Iran will start on Monday, renewing hopes for a diplomatic settlement to the crisis that has disrupted energy supplies. “We are now engaging in a negotiation with them.”
Without revealing the location or attendees, Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One, “It begins tomorrow afternoon.” A solution pertaining to the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s denuclearization is “imminent,” he claimed, adding that he had put off the strikes at the request of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iran.
However, Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, once more rejected the idea of direct talks with the US. At a press conference on Monday, Baghaei reiterated that Tehran is presently only in talks with Oman about the Strait of Hormuz and that there is no urgent plan for conversations with the United States.
Trump stated on Saturday that the United States was prepared to attack Iran and that the planned operation would have been the largest since World War II.
Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz handled almost one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Since then, ship traffic has decreased to a trickle, with occasional increases on favorable headlines.
According to the Associated Press, which cited a regional official participating in the mediation efforts, Trump’s most recent proposal over the weekend called for the United States and Iran to resume talks and begin resolving some of the complex issues that have hindered diplomatic efforts.
The proposal, according to the official, also calls for the reopening of the Hormuz Strait and the cessation of attacks throughout the area, including those carried out by militias in Iraq with Iranian support on Jordan and the Arab Gulf nations.
According to the official, the U.S. will lift its naval blockade of Iran and permit Tehran to export its oil, but no agreement has been achieved despite ongoing mediation attempts.
After days of intensifying attacks throughout the Gulf, Trump’s weekend reversal has brought down the temperature. Kuwait’s military destroyed many drones after Iran attacked vital infrastructure in the country’s north, the authorities said on Saturday. Iranian forces unleashed a barrage of drones into Kuwaiti airspace.
Additionally, a parallel track with Muscat is progressing. The Financial Times reported that Iranian diplomats indicated Tehran was nearing a new agreement with Oman to control shipping via the Strait of Hormuz, a pact essential to keeping the conflict from getting worse.
Iranian officials stated that talks with Oman, which is located on the other side of the waterway, on future management of the Hormuz Strait are nearing their conclusion. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, stated that the negotiated shipping route would be different from those previously utilized and that it was unrelated to the question of whether the strait would reopen or remain closed.
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