Days after US President announced that a deal with Iran was “,” Tehran and Washington on Thursday (local time) accused each other of violating a shaky ceasefire in their three-month war.
The accusations come after Washington struck Iranian military targets for the second time this week, Bloomberg reported. Despite the condemnation, both sides have maintained that the truce remains intact and that the ongoing negotiations through mediators are making progress; however, there has been little public sign of significant headway.
US shoots down Iranian drones
According to a US official, US forces downed at least four Iranian targeting a commercial vessel and struck a drone launch unit near the Strait of Hormuz. The official added that the actions were defensive and that the remains intact. Tehran later targeted a US base from which the operation was launched, according to state-run Press TV.
Washington, in turn, accused Tehran of an “egregious ceasefire violation” and stated that Kuwait had intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Islamic Republic toward the Gulf country. “Any explosions that may be heard are the result of air defence systems intercepting hostile targets,” Kuwait informed its residents.
Trump says no nation would control Strait of Hormuz
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump convened a White House , during which he asserted that no single nation would control the Strait of Hormuz, a matter that has now become a sticking point in resolving the conflict. The effective closure of the Strait since the start of the war in late February has strangled roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, leading to a surge in prices and rising inflation.
The said, “It’s international waters. The strait’s going to be open to everybody,” and that the US will “watch over it.”
However, Trump didn’t clearly mention what steps Washington might take to ensure the free transit of vessels. The US Treasury said it had taken action against Tehran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, accusing it of launching a new attempt “to monetize its campaign of state-sponsored terror by extorting vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran tightens Hormuz control
In the meantime, the Islamic Republic has expanded its claimed jurisdiction and set out new rules for vessels seeking to transit the arterial waterway. This includes seafarers dealing with the new Iranian agency and sometimes receiving payment requests of as much as $2 million for safe passage.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps () said that at least 26 commercial ships and oil tankers have transited the waterway in the past 24 hours after obtaining permission, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing an IRGC statement. Vessels attempting unauthorized entry into the Persian Gulf were stopped by Iran’s naval forces, it added.
Trump says deal with Iran is close
The US president has continued to suggest that a deal is close, but finds himself caught between Iranian demands for an end to attacks, as well as financial relief, and pressure from Republican hawks to finish the job, or at least not sign a bad deal.
Complicating matters further are his own past remarks criticising his predecessors for signing, or even considering, deals similar to the one now seen as the most viable option.
Amid all the uncertainty, both Iran and the US have said their talks, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, are progressing. According to a Telegram post, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State on Tuesday said that negotiators may need a few more days to finalise an agreement. An Iranian delegation returned to Tehran this week after talks in Qatar’s capital, which a diplomat familiar with the discussions described as productive.
The two countries, which agreed to a ceasefire in early April, are still negotiating the release of Iran’s estimated $24 billion in frozen assets, including the amount to be unlocked and the timeline for doing so. On Thursday, Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran is seeking the release of all assets blocked by the .
(With agency inputs)
