Iran said on Tuesday it would not meet with top United States (US) envoys who flew to the region following \u200ban outbreak of hostilities, clouding the prospects for a lasting peace between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials also said the two sides must still \u200csort out the terms of a ceasefire they signed two weeks ago before they could tackle more difficult topics, such as possible limits to its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
The developments indicated the two sides are far apart on key pillars of the initial framework, which calls for Iran to lift its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for financial incentives and sets up 60 days \u200bof negotiations to work out a permanent peace deal.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha for what the \u200bWhite House described as \u201chigh-level\u201d talks, but Iran and host Qatar said they would meet with mediators, rather than the Iranians themselves.<\/p>\n
Qatar \u2060said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was among those to meet with Witkoff and Kushner.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled \u200bfor the coming days,\u201d Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.<\/p>\n
The two countries were due to commence lower-level technical talks, according to Majed al-Ansari, Spokesperson for Qatar\u2019s foreign ministry.<\/p>\n
Looking for ways to break the deadlock, Trump has weighed a return to all-out war, holding conversations with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine on conducting more strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US sources familiar with the discussion. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.<\/p>\n
But for now, Trump, who \u200bhas publicly threatened Iran with more attacks, has decided to give diplomacy more time, the report said.<\/p>\n
Shipping has partially resumed through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global \u200boil and liquefied natural gas before the war broke out on February 28.<\/p>\n
It was very difficult.<\/p>\n
But Iranian officials said they had a right to manage traffic along with US ally Oman, which lies on \u200cthe other \u2060side of the strategic waterway, and would impose tolls in mid-August when the 60-day period expires.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sovereignty of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran and Oman, and traffic in the Strait is subject to arrangements determined by Iran,\u201d Iran\u2019s top negotiator, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said on state television.<\/p>\n
US Vice President JD Vance said Iran would be prevented from charging tolls through the international waterway, telling The Michael Knowles Show, \u201cThis is not going to end in a place where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships \u200bgoing through the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vance also \u200bsaid in the interview recorded on \u2060Monday but released on Tuesday that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had returned to pre-war levels, even exceeding that on some days, without citing figures.<\/p>\n
Despite the uncertainty, oil prices have fallen since the weekend, when the US bombed Iranian military \u200bfacilities in response to drone strikes on commercial ships, and Iran attacked US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.<\/p>\n
Vulnerable economies, however, \u200bcould remain at risk from \u2060food and fuel price increases even after energy markets feel relief, the United Nations trade and development agency said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The war pushed up global inflation and has put Trump under political pressure before midterm elections in November that will determine control of the US Congress. Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are both urging gasoline retailers to lower prices.<\/p>\n
The interim deal between \u2060the US and \u200bIran also provides for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in \u200bLebanon.<\/p>\n
But Lebanon\u2019s powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, cast doubt on a separate, US-brokered framework deal between Lebanon and Israel to halt that war.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the deal risks entrenching a stalemate by tying \u200bIsrael\u2019s withdrawal from southern Lebanon to Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament.<\/p>\n
\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29729,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-38493","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The interim deal between \u2060the US and \u200bIran also provides for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militant group.","published_date":"","news_description":"The interim deal between \u2060the US and \u200bIran also provides for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militant group.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38494,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38493\/revisions\/38494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}