Iran and Oman hold first meeting of joint committee of Strait of Hormuz, Gharibabadi says

Iran and Oman have conducted the first meeting of a joint committee on the Strait of Hormuz in Muscat, the Iranian deputy foreign minister said on his X account on Monday.

Kazem Gharibabadi said him and Oman's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Al-Hinai had exchanged views on Gulf coastal states' sovereign rights as well as on the strait's future management based on the interim deal signed this month by Tehran and Washington.

"We exchanged views on the future management of the Strait within the framework of...the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding," he wrote.

Hormuz traffic drops after fresh vessel attacks fuel security concerns

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued at a reduced pace over the weekend after attacks on two vessels renewed concerns over the safety of one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.

Tracking data showed that some open transits were still taking place after a Singapore-registered container ship, Ever Lovely, was damaged on June 25 and the Panama-flagged tanker M/T Kiku was hit on June 27.

The continued crossings suggest some operators are still prepared to use the waterway, but the slowdown points to uneven confidence among shipowners, insurers and charterers after the latest escalation.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said Ever Lovely sustained minor damage to its bridge area from an unknown projectile while leaving the strait, adding that the vessel later completed its transit and that all 21 crew members were safe.

The US Central Command said Iranian forces struck M/T Kiku with a one-way attack drone while the tanker was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz with more than 2 million barrels of crude oil. CENTCOM said it carried out additional strikes against Iranian targets in response.

Despite the attacks, several vessels still moved through the waterway over the weekend, including empty very large crude carriers entering the Persian Gulf and loaded tankers leaving it.

A French-registered container ship, CMA CGM Galapagos, also exited the strait and later anchored off Muscat, Oman, according to maritime sources. The vessel had been among ships trapped in the Persian Gulf since the conflict began in late February.

Meanwhile, tracking platform Windward data showed that on 27 June, 24 vessels transited inbound and 16 outbound through the Strait of Hormuz – 40 in total.

Inbound traffic was tanker-heavy (13 of 24) with strong Iranian-flag representation: Touskla, Dan, Hawk and Jairan. Outbound flow was northern-corridor dominant, with roughly 4.1M barrels of crude moving out aboard three laden tankers.

The movement of empty tankers into the Gulf remains important for regional energy producers seeking to restart exports after months of disruption. VLCCs are needed to load crude at Gulf terminals, and any hesitation among shipowners could slow the recovery of oil flows even if diplomatic talks continue.

The Joint Maritime Information Center raised the maritime security threat level in the Strait of Hormuz to “substantial” after the latest attacks, warning vessels about mines and naval activity linked to mine-clearing operations.

Shipowner sentiment remains mixed. Some vessels that had recently abandoned or delayed crossings have not made new attempts, while others have used either the Iranian-designated northern route or the southern lane close to Oman.

US envoy to UN says Iran’s leverage over Hormuz ‘diminishing day by day’

Mike Waltz says Iran stands “completely isolated” over its push to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz and its leverage over the waterway is “diminishing by the day”.

Speaking after the US and Iran traded strikes following attacks on two ships in the strait, Waltz told Fox News that Gulf Arab states were already building alternatives with the UAE and Saudi Arabia both expanding oil pipelines that bypass the waterway.

He added that the US will “create alternatives to our [military] basing posture” in the Middle East by “hardening some” and possibly moving others underground. “So this leverage that Iran thinks it has now is diminishing faster and faster, literally every week as we speak,” he said.

Waltz said even China had opposed fees or tolls in the strait and claimed that Oman had rejected Iran’s proposal to help set up the necessary infrastructure. “So they’re completely isolated here,” he said.

The diplomat warned Iran that it risks a “path to absolute ruin” and said Trump’s patience “isn’t going to last forever”.

French president, Saudi crown prince discuss US-Iran escalation

Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed bin Salman have discussed the latest developments between the US and Iran during a phone call on Sunday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), according to Al Jazeera.

The agency said the two leaders discussed the “efforts being made to reach comprehensive solutions that achieve security and stability of the region”.

They also emphasised the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and supporting diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions.

Iran and US agree to halt attacks and renew talks, US official says

Iran and the United States ​agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks regarding their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a US official said on Sunday, raising ‌hopes of saving an interim peace deal that was under pressure from days of tit-for-tat strikes.

“Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now, and vessels can move freely," the official said, referring to the 14-point memorandum of understanding that was agreed on June 17 under which the strait would be reopened for traffic.

Axios, which first reported 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 counterstrikes since ​an Iranian projectile hit a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, with both the US and Iran accusing the ⁠other of breaking an interim ceasefire that was agreed to on June 17.

Iran launched missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain early on Sunday, shortly ​after US President Donald Trump threatened that the Islamic Republic would cease to exist if it did not honour the agreement to end the war.

Read: Pakistan moves to salvage fragile ceasefire

Meanwhile, Israel claimed on Sunday it had once ​again struck Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, claiming it destroyed underground infrastructure used by the group in a village in southern Lebanon. That came after another strike on Saturday, which closely followed its latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Friday. Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must end if the wider agreement is to stick.

The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in ​the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important energy shipping route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict.

"There may come a point when we are no ​longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started," Trump said on social media, before the Axios report.

"If that happens, the Islamic Republic ‌of Iran ⁠will no longer exist!" he added.

The 14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran's nuclear program.

Violence, accusations follow peace deal

One round of mediated talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago, and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.

About an hour after Trump's post, Kuwait's army said its air defences were responding ​to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain ​said sirens had sounded there.

Iran's Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The Guards said US strikes had violated the ceasefire and "will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes", state-run ​Press TV said. The IRGC Navy command said American bases in the region "will experience hell in the coming days".

Read more: Iran and US step up attacks and threaten to escalate

A US official, ​confirming Iran had targeted ⁠US facilities, told Reuters there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East but the situation was still unfolding.

Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session ⁠to hold Iran ​accountable.

The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties.

Separately, Qatar said ​one of its nationals had died after sustaining injuries from shrapnel aboard a vessel that had gone missing on Saturday. A second person was injured in the incident, which was due to "military operations in the area", the interior ​ministry said, without giving a location or apportioning blame.