US, Iran may resume talks this week despite port blockade

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON/DUBAI: Negotiating teams from the U.S. and Iran could return to Islamabad ​this week to resume talks to end the war, sources told Reuters on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.

While the ‌U.S. blockade drew angry rhetoric from Tehran, signs that diplomatic engagement might continue helped calm oil markets, pushing benchmark prices below $100 on Tuesday.

The highest-level talks between the two adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in the Pakistani capital without a breakthrough at the weekend, raising doubts over the survival of a two-week ceasefire that still has a week to run.

But a source involved in the talks said on Tuesday both countries could return as early as the end of this week, and that a proposal had been shared ​with Washington and Tehran to resend their delegations.

“No firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday open,” a senior Iranian source said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had ​been in touch on Monday and wanted to make a deal, adding that he would not sanction any agreement that allowed Tehran to possess a nuclear weapon.

Since ⁠the United States and Israel began the war on February 28, Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to nearly all vessels except its own, saying passage would be permitted only under Iranian control and ​subject to a fee.

The fallout has been widespread, as nearly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas previously flowed through the narrow waterway.

In a countermeasure, the U.S. military said it began blocking shipping traffic in ​and out of Iran’s ports on Monday. Tehran has threatened to hit naval ships going through the strait and to retaliate against its Gulf neighbours’ ports.

Nearly 24 hours into the U.S. blockade, there had yet to be reports of Washington taking direct action against shipping to enforce it.

Three Iran-linked tankers were seen transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping data showed, but the vessels were not heading to or from Iranian ports.

OIL SUPPLY FORECASTS CUT

The U.S. blockade has further clouded the ​outlook for global energy security and the supply of a vast array of goods that rely on petroleum.

The United States’ NATO allies including Britain and France said they would not be drawn into the conflict by taking ​part in the blockade, although they have offered to help safeguard the strait when an agreement is in place.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair a video conference on Friday for countries willing to contribute ‌to a defensive ⁠multilateral mission to restore freedom of navigation in the strait when security conditions permit, Macron’s office said.

China, the main buyer of Iranian oil, said the U.S. blockade was “dangerous and irresponsible” and would only aggravate tensions.

Reflecting the growing disruption, the International Energy Agency on Tuesday sharply cut its forecasts for global oil supply and demand growth, saying both are now expected to fall from 2025 levels as war in the Middle East disrupts oil flows and weighs on the global economy.

NUCLEAR DEMANDS REMAIN FIRM

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who led Washington’s delegation opposite Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, told Fox News on Monday the U.S. had “made a lot of progress” ​by communicating to Tehran where Washington “could make some accommodation” ​and where it would remain inflexible.

He said Trump ⁠was adamant that any enriched nuclear material must be removed from Iran and a mechanism must be established to verify that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.

Tehran “moved in our direction, which is why I think we would say that we had some good signs, but they didn’t move far enough,” Vance said, without disclosing further ​details.

CEASEFIRE STILL HOLDING

With the war unpopular at home and rising energy prices causing political blowback, Trump paused the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign last week after threatening ​to destroy Iran’s “whole civilisation” unless it ⁠reopened the strait.

The ceasefire, which halted U.S.-Israeli strikes and fire from Iran across the Gulf in response, has largely held over its first week despite sharp rhetoric from both sides.

An Iranian military spokesperson called any U.S. restrictions on international shipping “piracy,” warning that if Iranian ports were threatened, no port in the Gulf or Gulf of Oman would be secure.

Any military vessels approaching the strait would violate the ceasefire, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.

Trump said Iran’s navy had ⁠been “completely obliterated” during ​the war, adding that only a small number of “fast-attack ships” remained.
“Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our ​BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED,” Trump wrote on social media.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said the blockade would be enforced against vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman. It would not impede neutral transit passage through the Strait ​of Hormuz to or from non-Iranian destinations, it said in a note to seafarers seen by Reuters.