The China Mail - UN to begin evacuating stranded Mideast sailors after US-Iran talks

Tehran and Washington have signed an interim deal to halt a war that sowed chaos across the Middle East and sent oil prices soaring, embarking on a 60-day negotiation to settle issues like sanctions relief and the fate of Iran's nuclear programme.

An Iranian blockade that began early in the conflict choked off maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz -- a vital route for global oil and gas shipments -- but crossings have begun to rise again since the US-Iran deal was inked.

The head of the UN's International Maritime Organization said it would begin evacuating more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the waterway "in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal States in the region, the United States and the maritime industry".

"We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations," secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said.

Traffic through the strait has reached the highest level since the start of the war, according to two maritime tracking platforms, representing just over 40 percent of the normal peacetime level of about 120 vessels per day.

But Tehran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf insisted the Strait of Hormuz "will never return" to the days of free passage before the war, despite the foes agreeing to set up communication lines to keep it open.

Oman and Iran said in a joint statement Tuesday that they would study the administration of the trade route and the costs to be charged for services provided, insisting on their sovereignty over the waterway.

- Nuclear disagreements -

Diplomacy on a definitive deal to end the war ramped up on Tuesday, with Iran's president heading to mediator Pakistan, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio setting off on a tour of Gulf allies, and Lebanon and Israel kicking off more direct talks in Washington.

But Iran denied a claim by US Vice President JD Vance that Tehran had agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors back, after Iran blocked them from nuclear sites struck by its arch foes in a 12-day war last year.

"We have not had a meeting with the director general of the IAEA, nor do we have any plans for the agency to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities damaged by the US and Zionist military aggression," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters.

US President Donald Trump, however, insisted Iran had "fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future".

When the US joined Israel's previous war with Iran in mid-2025, it bombed nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, including with powerful bunker-busting munitions.

The extent of the damage remains unknown despite Trump claiming they were "obliterated".

Iran's UN ambassador Ali Bahreini also told reporters "there hasn't been such a decision" to accept IAEA inspectors.

- Diplomatic whirlwind -

Rubio landed in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, with plans to also visit Kuwait and Bahrain -- all attacked by Iran during the war -- to discuss the deal with Tehran and the Hormuz strait.

Comments by Rubio, an ardent Iran hawk, will be closely watched as he has largely remained out of the spotlight, with Vance taking a lead role in defending the deal.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, was visiting key mediator Pakistan on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Araghchi and Ghalibaf also held talks in Oman with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, who expressed hope for "a peaceful, definitive settlement", Omani state media said.

Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said both sides had agreed on a "roadmap" to reach a final agreement within the 60-day timeframe.

They agreed that four negotiating groups be set up on nuclear issues, sanctions and other matters, Iranian state media said.

- Lebanon war -

On the Lebanon front, a fifth round of negotiations between Lebanese and Israeli officials began in Washington on Tuesday in a bid to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict there.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, has repeatedly threatened to derail peace efforts. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem again demanded a timetable for a full Israeli withdrawal from the country.

The goal of the Washington talks will be "to end the cycle of violence for good", a US State Department official told AFP.

Despite a reduction in hostilities in Lebanon, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two people in the south on Tuesday, state media reported. Israel said it had fired on Hezbollah operatives infiltrating its delf-declared security zone.

burs-jfx/smw/dc

D.Peng--ThChM