Strait-Hormuz

US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch a bombing campaign against Oman. At a time when diplomatic efforts are underway to find a path toward an agreement over Iran, Trump has issued the threat against one of the key mediators involved in those efforts. He also publicly acknowledged that, alongside negotiations with Iran, the United States has been in direct secret communication with officials of the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In an interview w...

Iran and the United States reached an agreement to halt the fighting that had continued since February. The agreement expires today. But hopes of an end to the fighting remain distant. The war has continued intermittently in different forms. Threats and counterthreats are also continuing unabated. Aggressive statements are being heard from leaders of both countries. Neither side appears interested in extending the agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last Saturday that Tehran...

The plan was to stop the war, but at the negotiating table, the United States and Iran appear to have instead opened even larger ledgers of demands against each other. After five months of war, a narrow waterway is now at the center of the talks: the Strait of Hormuz. Whether this route will reopen is now tied to compensation, blockades, sanctions, military withdrawals and even responsibility for much older conflicts. The United States wants Iran to pay compensation for various deaths and...

Iran is not holding any talks with the United States. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei made this clear at a press conference. However, he said Tehran is working with Oman to establish a ‘temporary shipping lane’ to ensure the safe passage of vessels through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson also said at the press conference that discussions are underway with Muscat to launch the temporary shipping lane through the...

Amid growing fears that the conflict in the Middle East could spread further, the United States and Saudi Arabia carried out joint strikes on Iran backed armed groups in Iraq. At least 20 people have been confirmed dead. The US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said the strikes targeted the ‘Iran backed terrorists’ whom Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, had directed to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. The Iran backed Shiite militia led Popular Mobilization F...

Iran has called for expanding strategic cooperation with Pakistan to help reduce tensions in the Gulf region. Tehran also described Islamabad’s diplomatic efforts as an important contribution to regional peace and stability. Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam made the remarks at a roundtable organized by the Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS). He said, “Pakistan has played a constructive diplomatic role in facilitating dialogue and advancing efforts for reg...

Tehran has rejected a United States ceasefire proposal delivered through Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, according to The New York Times, citing Iranian and Iraqi officials. According to the report, the mediation effort failed at a time when US President Donald Trump was threatening to expand the war and strike Iran’s critical infrastructure. Ali al-Zaidi visited Tehran on Thursday. Earlier this month, he traveled to the White House and met with Trump. Officials, who spoke on condition of ano...

The United States has launched a new wave of airstrikes on targets across Iran under the direction of President Donald Trump. According to the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), the strikes began at 6 pm Saturday, US time. Earlier, in a statement, CENTCOM said two US service members who were participating in operations alongside allied forces were killed while helping intercept Iranian ballistic missiles and drone attacks in Jordan. Another service member has also been listed as mis...

Not stars, but missiles now fill the night sky over the Middle East. Flames of vengeance are blazing over the calm blue waters of the Strait of Hormuz. As night falls, American war machines are swooping down on Iran’s sleeping towns and cities. In retaliatory strikes, Iran’s rain of fire is scorching the skies of what it describes as the American empire across the Middle East, from Kuwait and Bahrain to the scorching deserts of Jordan and Syria’s Al-Tanf. The Iran-United States conflict i...

The United States has claimed to have struck more than 100 Iranian military facilities in response to the recent attack on a Cyprus-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Centcom said this was the third round of strikes this week. Centcom said Sunday morning that it had hit around 140 military targets, including Iran’s missile and drone bases, naval fleets, ammunition depots, communications networks and coastal surveillance sites. It said that more than 300 targets had been struck over...

Iran has warned that it will not accept any military activity by non-regional powers in the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that the strategically vital waterway should not become a stage for foreign military posturing. Speaking on Friday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister and head of the country’s negotiating team in talks with the United States in Switzerland, Kazem Gharibabadi, said responsibility for securing the Strait of Hormuz rests with the Gulf littoral states....

Iran has pledged to uphold the ceasefire agreement and implement measures related to the Strait of Hormuz if the United States fulfills its commitments under the recently reached understanding, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said. Speaking at the UN Security Council on Thursday, Iran’s Permanent Representative Amir Saeid Iravani said Tehran would make its ‘maximum effort’ to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days under the agreement...