The China Mail - Washington says US, Iran pausing strikes, talks to proceed

The exchanges have underscored the fragility of a Pakistan-brokered agreement to end the conflict that has killed thousands and snarled the flow of oil shipments through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Although a ceasefire took effect in April, sporadic violence has flared up in the Gulf region, with traffic in the strait serving as a regular flashpoint.

"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.

Iran has not immediately commented on the US statement, and the US official did not confirm a US media report that talks would resume Tuesday in Qatar.

Tehran has insisted on controlling passage through the vital strait, through which about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas travel in peacetime. It did not have that control before the war.

Iran's top diplomat warned Sunday that any attempt by ships to bypass its preferred route through Hormuz would "increase tensions" in the Middle East.

The strait comprises Omani and Iranian territorial waters, but under customary international law the two cannot generally block passage or charge tolls.

Nevertheless, Iran prevented most ships from using the narrow waterway during the war, granting it enormous economic leverage which it appears reluctant to give up.

Tehran's enforcement of its control has sparked repeated flare-ups with Washington, the latest of which came early Sunday, when US Central Command said it had attacked 10 Iranian military targets over "continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping".

Iran said it retaliated with strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Both Kuwait and Bahrain denounced the Iranian attacks.

- 'Hegemonic dreams' -

Iran presently insists ships transiting the strait pass through a corridor near its own shores, though this week dozens of vessels have travelled along the opposite side of the waterway, hugging the Omani coast.

"Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

The published text of the memorandum says Iran will define the future administration of the strait in dialogue with Oman and the other Gulf States, but "in line" with international law.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they were taking measures to control traffic in the strait and that vessels violating those measures would be dealt with more firmly than before.

Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran's supreme leader, wrote on X that as long as Iran managed the strait, Washington's "hegemonic dreams in the region will not be realised".

Experts said there would likely be more Hormuz incidents.

For Iran, "a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can work to its advantage", said HA Hellyer of Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.

While the tit-for-tat exchanges have largely been without reported casualties, Qatar's interior ministry said one of its citizens was killed aboard a boat by shrapnel from "military operations in the area".

- Israel strikes Lebanon -

The Israeli army destroyed an extensive tunnel in southern Lebanon on Sunday, with Lebanese state media reporting strikes in the area and Iran-backed Hezbollah saying it reserves the right to respond to those attacks.

"The tunnel, stretching more than 200 metres and reaching a depth of over 25 metres, contained hundreds of weapons as well as several launch shafts intended to target the State of Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.

In response to the attacks, Hezbollah said it "reiterates that what the enemy has done is a blatant violation of the ceasefire to which it has adhered until now, and that it is monitoring and tracking these violations, and reserves its right to defend its homeland and its people".

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war in early March, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of Iran, and Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Tehran has insisted on Lebanon being part of the wider peace deal for the Middle East war.

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Z.Huang--ThChM