US and Iran agree to halt fresh hostilities, talks to continue

Washington and Tehran have agreed to halt attacks after new tit-for-tat strikes strained their interim deal, with the sides planning to renew talks aimed at ending the Middle East war, a US official said.

"Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU," a US official told AFP in an email late Sunday, referring to the memorandum of understanding struck between Washington and Tehran.

"Both sides will stand down for now, and vessels can move freely" in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the official added.

Washington and Tehran agreed to cease the latest round of hostilities and meet in Qatar on Tuesday to address their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, US media reports said earlier on Sunday.

According to the US news site Axios, renewed fighting stemmed from differing interpretations of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that ended the war, particularly provisions concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

“We decided to stop all the kinetic activity,” a senior US official told Axios, using the military term for strikes and other attacks.

Under the memorandum, Iran pledged to make every effort to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the strait, while the US agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

Tuesday's meeting had initially been scheduled for Switzerland to discuss Iran's nuclear program, but the latest escalation prompted a change of venue to Doha and shifted the focus to the Strait of Hormuz.

During talks in Switzerland last week, US Vice President JD Vance and the Iranian delegation agreed to establish a hotline between the US military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to coordinate maritime traffic through the waterway.

By Saturday, however, the "hotline" was still not operational, even as Iran resumed asserting that ships must coordinate their passage, according to the report.

Earlier on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that US-Iran talks had stalled following the recent resumption of hostilities between the two countries.

Tehran said it struck US military installations in response to American attacks on Iranian sites.

US officials said a wave of Iranian drones and missiles fired late on Saturday failed to hit the intended targets.

The weekend exchange tested an initial US-Iran understanding meant to pause hostilities during 60 days of technical talks.

Neither side has publicly signalled de-escalation.

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Source: TRT