Pakistan said yesterday the United States and Iran were close to ‘some sort’ of deal, and fellow mediator Qatar said talks on managing the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage, despite reports of new attacks on shipping in regional waters.
Meanwhile, the US military yesterday said it had used missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship which ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
A US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the Vela Nova’s engine room, the Central Command added. “As of August 11, CENTCOM has redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled three non-compliant vessels, and boarded two,” it said in a statement.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said “things are shaping up again in favour of a peace arrangement or a deal.”
The comments offered some hope that Iran and the US can end a stalemate that has in effect blocked the vital waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war. Prospects for a deal had appeared to dim on Monday after the sides’ latest remarks and demands.
“The signals in the last two three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran yesterday.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a briefing earlier yesterday that separate discussions between Oman and Iran over management of the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage.
However, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said yesterday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as long as the US does not change its behaviour and accept Iran’s conditions to end the war.
“As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened,” Mohsen Rezaei, a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was quoted by semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying.
“America must end the war, pay Iran’s frozen assets, the war must end throughout the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s Public Relations Office did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Pakistan and Qatar have been the main mediators in the conflict in which thousands have been killed – mainly in Iran and Lebanon – since US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
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