Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The United States and Iran have agreed to halt their recent military exchanges around the Strait of Hormuz and move forward with negotiations aimed at preserving a fragile ceasefire.
According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, officials from both countries signalled that technical talks would continue despite several days of retaliatory strikes that had raised fears of a broader regional conflict.
A US official said the two sides had agreed to halt attacks in the Strait and allow commercial shipping to resume.
“Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” the official said, according to The Washington Post.
The New York Times reported that technical discussions would continue on implementing the memorandum of understanding that produced the fragile ceasefire, although Iran had yet to publicly confirm the reported understanding.
The renewed diplomatic push follows four days of military exchanges that began after attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States blamed Iran for the attacks and responded with strikes on Iranian military infrastructure. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks targeting US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, although US officials said the projectiles were intercepted or failed to reach their intended targets.
Despite the apparent breakthrough, the two sides remain sharply divided over the future administration of the Strait.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that Tehran alone has responsibility for managing maritime traffic through the waterway under the memorandum signed with Washington earlier this month.
