Representatives from the United States and Iran were scheduled to begin peace negotiations in Switzerland on Sunday, despite disagreements between Washington and Tehran over Iranian claims that the strategically important Strait of Hormuz had been closed.
According to Iranian state media, a senior Iranian delegation arrived in for the talks, while US Vice President JD Vance left Washington for meetings that Pakistan said would start on Sunday.
The two countries had previously agreed to a 60-day ceasefire during the negotiation period. However, on Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the Strait of Hormuz was closed. US military officials challenged that claim, stating that commercial shipping traffic continued to move through the waterway.
These developments may complicate the negotiations, as both sides aim to make progress on an interim agreement mediated by Pakistan and signed on Wednesday by US President and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with the goal of ending the nearly four-month conflict between the two nations.
Citing what it described as Israeli violations of US-backed ceasefire commitments in Lebanon, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that vessels approaching the could face danger. The strait is one of the world’s most important routes for transporting oil and natural gas. However, US Central Command reported that 55 commercial ships successfully passed through the waterway on Saturday, carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil to international markets.
Central Command also stated that US forces would continue protecting the free movement of commercial shipping in the area.
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said that ships would not be charged a fee to transit the Strait of Hormuz during or after the 60-day ceasefire period, unless peace negotiations collapse and the United States decides to impose one.
Trump also suggested that the US could introduce a transit fee in the future as compensation for acting as a “guardian” of Middle Eastern countries if a permanent peace agreement is not reached.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, accused the United States on X of failing to fulfill the first provision of the 14-point interim agreement between Washington and Tehran, which calls for a ceasefire across all conflict zones, including Lebanon.
He stated that Middle Eastern energy exports would continue to be disrupted as long as the agreement existed only on paper and was not fully implemented.
The ceasefire in Lebanon appeared increasingly unstable, with Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah continuing to exchange attacks.
US-Iran peace deal news LIVE: Australia extends fuel excise relief to ease household cost pressures
Australia will extend fuel excise relief for an additional month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday, as the country continues to grapple with higher fuel costs during the Iran war.
The government would “extend fuel excise relief for another month, making petrol and diesel 16 cents per litre cheaper versus normal prices for July, saving Australians around A$11 per tank”, Albanese said in a statement.
“This is more temporary support that will help take the sting out of petrol prices and help Australians with the cost of living,” he said.
The centre-left government had already halved the excise on fuel and diesel and removed a heavy road user charge for three months until the end of June to help households deal with higher prices at the fuel pump, sparked by the war in the Middle East.
– Reuters
US-Iran peace deal news LIVE: Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf invokes memories of Minab victims ahead of talks
Iranian Parliament Speaker MB Ghalibaf invoked the memory of victims of the Minab school incident ahead of technical talks with the United States in Switzerland, saying their sacrifice would guide the actions of the Islamic Republic during the negotiations with Washington as part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached between the two sides to end the hostilities in West Asia.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf he, along with the Iranian delegation, carried the memory of the children of Minab and other Iranian martyrs with them as they prepared for the talks.
“I consider the innocent children of Minab and all the martyrs of dear Iran to be watching over my every action and behaviour at every moment. They see us and expect things of us. God forbid that I should ever bring shame to the innocent martyrs and the people of Iran,” Ghalibaf wrote, mentioning the hashtag “Minab168” and dedicating the message to the memory of the children of Minab School.
– ANI
US-Iran peace deal news LIVE: CENTCOM rejects Iran’s claim of control over Strait of Hormuz
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday that Iran does not have authority over the Strait of Hormuz, despite escalating regional tensions following Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Tehran’s subsequent announcement that the key maritime passage had been closed.
In comments provided to Al Jazeera Arabic, a CENTCOM spokesperson emphasized that Iran does not control the strategically important waterway, which serves as one of the world’s most vital routes for the transportation of oil and other energy supplies.
US-Iran peace deal news LIVE: Iran’s delegation onboard the Minab-168 plane en-route to Zurich | Check images
US-Iran peace deal news LIVE: Who is leading Iranian delegation?
The Iranian delegation was led by chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as well as senior security, central bank and oil officials, Iranian media said. In addition to Vance, the US negotiating team includes envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, as per Reuters.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran would press in Switzerland for fulfilment of commitments, citing past failures by the other side to honour agreements.
– Reuters
About the Author
Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers.
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With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations.
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Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’.
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He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune.
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He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP.
<br><br> He can be reached on <a href=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani”>LinkedIn</a> or on <a href=”https://x.com/GarvitBhirani”>@garvitbhirani</a> on X
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