USA11 August, 20263 min read
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif Says U.S. And Iran Are Close To An Arrangement
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US and Iran nearing some arrangement to end the conflict, says Asif. Signals in past few days point toward a peace deal, Asif says.
US-Iran talks hinge on compensation
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg in Islamabad on Tuesday that the U.S. and Iran are close to “some sort of an arrangement,” saying, “Things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal.” CBS News said President Trump told reporters Monday that the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz and insisted Iran’s economy is suffering due to the war, while Reuters reported that Iran’s newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the strait will remain closed unless the U.S. accepts Iran’s conditions to end the war.
Reuters quoted Mohsen Rezaei saying, “As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened,” and Reuters also reported Trump at the White House said, “We're going to ask for money for the damage they've done over a 50-year period.” In the same Reuters account, Rezaei said that if an agreement is reached between Iran and Oman regarding the transit route through the Strait of Hormuz, “this agreement will be a matter separate from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran sets conditions; US demands
Reuters reported that Mohsen Rezaei said the conditions had been transmitted to the U.S. through mediators, and Reuters also quoted him saying, “America must end the war, pay Iran's frozen assets, the war must end throughout the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza.” Reuters said Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Khamenei, wrote on X on Tuesday that “the punishment of the aggressor continues, and the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until Iran's conditions are met”.
The CBS News live updates section said Iran rejects Trump’s comments demanding compensation for war damage, stating that since Iran is seeking compensation as part of any peace talks, “he'll demand the same.” Reuters also described Trump’s posture as alternating between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent, and it quoted Trump telling Real America's Voice, “I'm sort of negotiating,” while describing Iran as “very devious negotiators.”
Shipping attacks add pressure
Alongside the diplomacy, CBS News reported that at least six people were killed in alleged strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a cargo vessel Tuesday near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, off Yemen’s southern coast, and it said the coast guard identified the vessel as the Tihamah. Reuters reported that four crew members were killed in a suspected attack by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on a small cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, and it said the fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would be the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began.
Reuters also said a container ship was hit by a missile off Pakistan while sailing through the Gulf of Oman in a suspected U.S. attack, and it added that the Wall Street Journal reported a U.S. official as saying the ship had been hit by a U.S. military helicopter after its crew ignored warnings. In the Reuters account, the Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on July 20 in response to what they described as a Saudi siege, while Riyadh denies that Yemen is under siege, keeping the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding routes central to the conflict’s next moves.