A day after the U.S. Navy seized and boarded an Iranian cargo ship, a tense calm prevailed and clearer indications emerged from Washington and Tehran that they would send negotiators to Pakistan on Tuesday for a second round of peace talks.
According to a report published in New York Times, the United States and Iran remained at an impasse over marine traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, however, with President Trump vowing to keep in place a blockade of Iranian ports and Iran reasserting military control of the crucial waterway. The U.S. Navy said it had so far turned back 27 ships as part of its blockade of the strait. Crude oil prices crept back up toward $100 a barrel on Monday.
Trump may attend in person or online if an agreement is reached in Islamabad: Reuters
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the first time he has done so — underscoring the strain the conflict between the United States and Iran is placing on China’s economic interests. Mr. Xi said the strategic waterway, through which China imports as much as 40 percent of its oil, “should remain open to normal navigation” during a phone call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Monday, according to Chinese state media.
China has months of strategic energy reserves, but it can ill afford a prolonged global economic downturn as it relies on global trade to power an already sluggish domestic economy. Though countries in the region have called for Beijing to play a larger role, it has been constrained by competing interests and a reluctance to become too entangled in the crisis. China is balancing ties with Iran and Gulf states like Saudi Arabia while also seeking to preserve a detente with the United States ahead of a summit next month between Mr. Xi and President Trump.
Pakistan learned Trump’s language to become an unlikely peacemaker: WP
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and the head of its negotiating team in peace talks with the United States, accused President Trump of trying to force Iran’s surrender in a message on X.
Ghalibaf added that Iran would not participate in talks under threats. On Sunday, Trump had reiterated his threats to target Iranian civilian infrastructure in the event of a breakdown in the diplomacy.
A two-week cease-fire that began on April 8 is nearing its expiration.
In private, Iranian officials say they’re preparing to resume peace talks with the United States. In public, however, they are far more wary, even pugnacious at times, as they blame the White House for putting diplomacy at risk.
On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, refused to confirm if Iran would take part in a second round of peace talks in Islamabad this week. Asked about reports of a U.S. delegation planning to travel to Pakistan, Mr. Baghaei curtly called it “their own business.”
The Iranian-flagged container ship seized by U.S. forces in the Arabian Sea on Sunday was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2020, during President Trump’s first term in office. Treasury officials said at the time that they were targeting the 960-foot-long vessel, the Touska, over links to Iran’s financial entities and weapons programs.
“The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Sunday. “We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”
The U.S. Navy has turned back 27 ships trying to enter or exit Iranian ports since an American blockade outside the contested Strait of Hormuz began about a week ago, the military’s Central Command said on Monday.
A U.S. military official also said on Monday that a team of Marines was searching and scanning a large number of containers aboard the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship that the Navy disabled and seized in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday after it tried to evade the blockade.
Among the throngs of displaced people making their way home to southern Lebanon on Monday was one family trying to cross what remained of a bridge over the Litani River, the informal boundary between northern and southern Lebanon.
A bomb appeared to have taken out a large chunk of the bridge, which lay near the village of Tayr Felsay. Still, people were making their way across by climbing over cracked concrete.
Since the cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon began Friday, roads to the south were packed with displaced people trying to return to their homes. Israel has said it plans to occupy all of southern Lebanon below this river.
More than a million people in Lebanon were displaced during the current conflict, the second full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah in recent years. Nearly 2,300 people were killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry, a tally including civilians and Hezbollah fighters.
