Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With their ongoing conflict since February 28 yielding zero tangible and net results, both the US and Iran paused their war, again, on Saturday for another round of likely diplomatic talks for a ‘ceasefire,’ the media reported on Monday.
Since the US has halted attacks for the past two nights, Iran has as well, its army spokesperson told Iran’s state TV on Sunday.
It was, however, still not clear why the US has paused after targeting Iranian coastal areas and infrastructure in a nearly two-week escalation sparked by Iran’s firing at commercial ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway both countries now claim to blockade.
The US halted its attacks on Iran for a second straight day on Sunday as Iran said it had done so too, as efforts continued to bring the warring countries back to negotiations on an interim ceasefire deal largely undermined by recent exchanges of fire.
US President Donald Trump is “giving talks some space. He’s giving it a little bit of room,” said Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Fox Newsreported.
“We’ve had both Oman and Iran, and a number of our other negotiators, engaged at every level, from the most senior levels all the way down to the technical level over the past few weeks, and particularly in the past few days.”
He dismissed reports suggesting that the US stockpile of interceptors crucial in defending against Iranian attacks is running low, but experts have questioned how long both the US and Iran can afford to keep up attacks.
Recently, Tehran has counterattacked against countries in the region hosting US military forces, killing at least three service members at a base in Jordan and one in Iraq.
The 60-day period that began when the interim deal—or MoU—was signed by both countries in mid-June is now well into its second half, and major issues that were meant to be negotiated – notably Iran’s nuclear program at the heart of tensions – remain set aside as mediators try to keep both sides at least talking.
An official said diplomacy was underway and that a pause in US and Iranian strikes was a “positive signal that helps their efforts to de-escalate.”
Both countries want to return to the interim ceasefire deal and that a compromise being negotiated centers on having Iran run vessel transit through the contentious Strait of Hormuz with fewer restrictions on ships.
shipping traffic
Concerns continued about shipping on the strait and now on another crucial waterway in the region, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to the Red Sea. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last week threatened a blockade of Saudi shipping there and even attacked two commercial vessels of the Sunni Kingdom.
Global energy supplies and the economy remain in the balance as gasoline prices have risen again.
Commercial shipping traffic on the Strait of Hormuz was at a three-week low, a maritime body overseen by the US Navy said on Sunday, adding that no new attacks had been confirmed in the past 72 hours. It said traffic remained steady through the Bab el-Mandeb as well.
Iran on Sunday said it continued to speak with Oman about managing the safe passage of ships on the Strait of Hormuz, which passes between the two countries in the Gulf region. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said talks had made progress and continued.
He also said the strait’s status remained unchanged. Tehran has asserted that the interim deal with the US allows it to manage shipping on the waterway for now, and it has objected to US efforts to support a route through the strait that passes close to Oman instead. The strait was considered an international waterway before the ongoing war started on February 28 when the US and Israel jointly launched aerial attacks on Iran.
The US military on Saturday said its recently reimposed naval blockade against Iran continued, with a dozen commercial ships redirected, two disabled and two boarded. US forces “remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready,” it added.
Netanyahu backs Trump
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to travel to the United States and meet with Trump in Washington on Tuesday, his office said.
They last met in Washington in February, weeks before they launched the war on Iran that killed senior leaders including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, fired at Israel two days after the war began, and Israel responded with airstrikes and ground forces in southern Lebanon. Since then, the US has supported landmark direct talks between Lebanon and Israel to try to calm that front and find a way to disarm Hezbollah.
Netanyahu on Sunday told Fox News he “fully” backs Trump’s efforts to weaken Iran and press it to end its nuclear program, adding: “If he can do so without returning to intense military fighting, that’s fine. Why not?”
He indicated he would not present new information to “our good friend” Trump and instead would listen to “what he has in mind, because I think in many ways, it’s his decision.”
But Netanyahu warned that if Iran again attacks Israel, directly or with armed proxies, “it will make a terrible mistake.”
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