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Strikes halted, talks set
US President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on new "disastrous" strikes against the Islamic republic, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that "It begins tomorrow afternoon."
“It begins tomorrow afternoon”
Trump said the planned attack would have been "the biggest attack since World War II" and that it would have been "disastrous for them" before explaining he was asked by Iran and US partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to hold off.
The ABC7 New York report said Trump claimed an emerging deal would include the "Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT" and an end to Iran's nuclear threat, while also saying Trump would order American forces to hold off on new strikes.
ABC7 New York added that Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the Strait of Hormuz "will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th," the day the war started.
In parallel, Reuters-style context was echoed by the CNN report that Trump canceled plans to attack Iran and that the Strait of Hormuz has been impassable since fighting resumed between the US and Iran on July 8.
Iran, allies, and disputes
Iranian officials pushed back on the idea of restoring the pre-February 28 status of the Strait of Hormuz, with Esmail Baghaei telling reporters that the waterway "will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th."
On the US side, Trump said he was asked to call off the strikes because "they think there's a deal," adding that "There's a deal on (the Strait of) Hormuz" and then "there will be a deal on the nuclear" or denuclearisation of Iran.
CNN reported that Iranian state media gave no indication that Tehran asked for the attacks to be called off or has changed its stance on the waterway, while also saying an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said an "understanding" with Oman over a new shipping route did not mean the Strait of Hormuz would reopen.
The BBC said Masoud Pezeshkian called for efforts to compel the United States to adhere to the Islamabad Memorandum, and it noted Abbas Araghchi said negotiations with Oman over the Hormuz Strait are nearing finalization.
BBC also reported that the Muscat-Tehran understanding concerns a new corridor in the Hormuz Strait that is neither a northern nor a southern route, while stressing that such an understanding has nothing to do with whether the waterway is open or closed.
What’s at stake next
The emerging framework described by Trump and repeated across coverage tied the pause in strikes to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending Iran's nuclear threat, with ABC7 New York saying the U.S. would end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil as stated in the tentative ceasefire deal.
“Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell about 5.6% to about $83 a barrel”
CNN reported the economic stakes of the Strait of Hormuz disruption, saying the collapse of the initial US-Iran ceasefire was followed by greater disruptions to global shipping and oil production, and that Brent crude fell about 5.6% to about $83 a barrel while US crude fell about 5.5% to about $80 a barrel.
CNN also said the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $4.09 on Sunday, a drop of two cents from a week ago, and that Sunday’s average is roughly 34% higher than before the war began.
In Iran, the BBC reported that Masoud Pezeshkian urged efforts to pressure the United States to adhere to the Islamabad memorandum, writing on X that the memorandum will be "the center of gravity of our foreign relations in the future."
Meanwhile, the BBC said the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report of a maritime incident 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, where a captain of a tanker reported hearing a loud explosion very close to the vessel, with the ship and all crew safe.
