- The agreement follows Iranian strikes on US military sites.
- Trump said the United States could “finish the job militarily.”
- Each side accuses the other of violating the ceasefire.
Iran and the United States have agreed to end recent hostilities in the Gulf and resume negotiations over their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official said Sunday, raising hopes of salvaging an interim peace deal that was under pressure from days of tit-for-tat strikes.
“Technical negotiations are expected to continue on all areas of the MoU. Both sides will withdraw for the time being and ships will be able to move freely,” the official said, referring to the 14-point MoU agreed on June 17 under which the strait would be reopened to traffic.
Axios, which was first to report the cessation of hostilities, citing a senior US official, said talks would resume on Tuesday in Qatar.
A return to diplomacy would follow several days of strikes and counterattacks since an Iranian projectile hit a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, with the United States and Iran accusing each other of breaking an interim ceasefire agreed to on June 17.
Iran launched missiles and drones at U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday morning, shortly after President Donald Trump threatened that the Islamic Republic would cease to exist if it did not comply with the end-of-war agreement.
Meanwhile, Israel said Sunday it had once again struck armed Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, destroying underground infrastructure used by the group in a village in southern Lebanon. This follows another strike on Saturday, which closely followed the latest ceasefire agreement with Lebanon on Friday. Iran says fighting in Lebanon must stop if the broader deal is to be respected.
The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after an oil tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy transport route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict.
“There may come a time when we will no longer be able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the work we have started with great success,” Trump said on social media, ahead of the release of the Axios report.
“If this happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he added.
The 14-point interim peace deal aimed to end the fighting, which the United States and Israel began on Feb. 28, and reopen the strait while negotiations continued on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.
Violence and accusations follow the peace agreement
A series of negotiations led by Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf took place in Switzerland a week ago and Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.
About an hour after Trump’s announcement, Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were responding to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain said sirens had sounded.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that its naval and air forces launched missile and drone operations targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Guardians said the US strikes violated the ceasefire and “will lead to a complete shutdown of all diplomatic processes”, state broadcaster Press TV said. The IRGC’s naval command said US bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days.”
A U.S. official, confirming that Iran had targeted U.S. facilities, told Reuters that no U.S. casualties or major damage to U.S. sites in the Middle East had been reported, but that the situation was still ongoing.
Hours later, the alarm sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack had damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, causing no casualties. Bahrain has urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to hold Iran accountable.
The Kuwaiti military said it intercepted two ballistic missiles without damage or casualties.
Separately, Qatar said one of its nationals died after being injured by shrapnel aboard a ship that went missing on Saturday. A second person was injured in the incident, which was due to “military operations in the region”, the Interior Ministry said, without specifying the location or attributing responsibility.
