Iran-US war latest: Trump casts doubt over peace deal as Tehran threatens ‘precise’ attack to break Hormuz blockade

Iran said it has reached an agreement with Oman over a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between the two countries, and they are now working to finalise details for a joint statement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran, Iran’s capital, that “an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route.”

He did not elaborate, but details that have previously emerged suggest the deal would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and exiting through a route close to Oman.

Ships would transit without paying fees or tolls during an interim period.

The US has sought an acceptable deal on opening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran effectively closed the strait — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies passed before the war — after Israel and the U.S. attacked the country on 28 Feb.

Baghaei conceded the talks with Oman have gone slowly, “but we had planned, and still plan, to finalise the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement.”

Turkish ​foreign minister Hakan Fidan on Monday discussed efforts to open ⁠the Strait of Hormuz and ensure the continuation of a ceasefire between ⁠Iran and ​the US ⁠during a call with his ⁠Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, ​a Turkish ⁠diplomatic source ‌said, without elaborating.

Earlier, a senior Iranian official told ‌Reuters that Tehran had ‌decided to shift its policy from defensive ⁠to “fully offensive” due to the deadlock in efforts to agree on a permanent end to its war with the US, ‌as progress towards peace ​talks and a ‌resumption of ⁠oil tanker traffic ⁠through the strategic strait has ‌ground ​to a ‌halt.

Iran’s annual inflation rate reached 66 per cent in July, while consumer prices were 87.9 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to Iran’s Statistical Centre.

Food inflation hit 128 per cent year-on-year.

Economic grievances have repeatedly spilled into nationwide protests in Iran in recent years.

In January, nationwide protests over economic hardships were crushed by the IRGC and ⁠the Basij force, with thousands killed.

In recent months, Iran’s clerical rulers have responded to fears of renewed unrest with executions, arrests, summonses and lengthy prison sentences targeting journalists, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates and students, rights groups say.

Officials say the measures are needed to maintain stability during wartime. Critics say they could deepen the divide between the clerical establishment and a public frustrated by rising economic pressures.

Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to “fully offensive” due to the deadlock in efforts to agree a permanent end to its war with the United States, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday.

Progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, with no sign that the warring parties are moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on 28 February.

“Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as Iran will be ready to make decisions and take action on difficult decisions,” the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran would conduct a “timely and precise” military attack to break the US naval blockade if diplomacy failed.

There was no immediate response to those comments from Washington, but US president Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Monday that Iran “should put up the white flag of surrender”.

US president Trump has claimed Iran won’t make the “kind of deal” he feels is “necessary”.

Regarding the expiration of the memorandum of understanding, reporters asked if he was any closer today to launching a final deal to end Iran’s nuclear program.

He said: “Well, they want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we’re in there for one reason: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

“You understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon.

“And right now, them building one after what we did previously with the b2 bombers, going to be going to be a long time behalf. But Iran cannot have. It’s very simple. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Monday wrapped up two days of meetings with Israeli and Hamas leaders to break a stalemate over the US president’s Gaza plan, but there were no signs of an ⁠imminent breakthrough as both sides dug in.

Kushner met prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel a day after meeting Hamas’ political leader in Egypt in a bid to revive the plan, which has stalled as Israel has carried out air strikes and seized more territory in Gaza despite an October ceasefire, while Hamas has refused to give up its weapons.

Trump last month announced that Hamas had agreed to lay down its arms in phases, under a 15-point roadmap put forward by ⁠his so-called Board of Peace to advance the president’s plan, as Israel’s military withdraws ​from ⁠Gaza. Hamas said it agreed to the roadmap but implementation depended on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including halting attacks and withdrawing.

An official from Iran’s foreign ministry has suggested its ceasefire and memorandum of understanding with the US could still be saved.

Abbas Baqerpour, director general of legal affairs, reportedly told IRNA news agency, the agreement, which expired today, was not dead, but rather in a “coma” and could be revived.

He said Iran is ready for a revival, but only if the US abandons its “habit of breaching commitments” and imposing sanctions.

President Donald Trump has threatened to launch an attack on ally Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely blocked amid the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

A 60-day period to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington expired on Monday with no news of an extension and talks deadlocked in the same position as two months ago.

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s**t out of them,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. The president had previously threatened to “blow up” the country in May if it did not “behave”.

Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to scale back annual joint military exercises with South Korea as his war against Iran stretches the limits of US aircraft carriers. Trump said South Korea wouldn’t help with his war against Iran and cited his good relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The USS George Washington is replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East amid growing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed Lincoln. The move leaves the western Pacific without a key military asset as China shows more signs of aggression.