DUBAI: Iran said on Monday it was still in control of the Strait of Hormuz and not seeking to resume peace talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump halted a two-week bombing campaign that his top brass told him had run its course. Following 13 successive nights of intensifying bombing that provoked Tehran to fire on US bases in response, Trump halted the campaign over the weekend.
Iran said it would suspend its own attacks for as long as the US pause endures. The end of the US bombing campaign sent oil prices tumbling in the hope that disrupted global supplies could resume flowing. Brent crude, which had briefly ticked above $100 a barrel last week for the first time since May, plunged more than 8% by mid-morning on Monday to just under $89.
But in signs on Monday that Tehran may already be testing the effective new ceasefire, Jordan reported shooting down two drones and Iraqi security sources said drones had struck a base of Iranian Kurdish opposition fighters in northern Iraq. There were no reports of casualties in either incident. Trump's decision to suspend the campaign reflected advice from his military that the bombing, aimed at breaking Iran's grip on the strait, had reached the limits of what it could achieve, according to a US official and several US media reports. The US official said that military commanders had advised the president they were running out of targets. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, had expressed concern over the depletion of air defence munitions, the official said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said on Sunday Trump had paused the campaign to allow room for negotiations. Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials have described Iran as "begging for a deal". But the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said in a televised press conference on Monday that Iran had not asked to resume peace talks with the United States. Messages were still being passed between the sides through mediators and Iran had not forsaken diplomacy, but "reports about Iran requesting negotiations with the U.S. are fabricated," Baghaei said. "This is not in our DNA." Tehran also indicated it was still in control of the world's most important waterway for energy markets.
Several Iranian state media outlets cited an "informed source" as saying that Iran had turned around six "offending ships" on Monday morning that had attempted to cross the strait without its permission. One of the vessels, the source said, had had "an accident". "As previously announced, the traffic route in the Strait of Hormuz is the route specified by Iran, and other routes are contaminated and have no way out," the Iranian state media reports quoted the source as saying.
Trump launched his renewed bombing campaign to punish Iran after Tehran fired on ships using a route through the strait that has been promoted by the United States. Iran says ships may pass only through a channel that runs closer to its own coast, which it controls and where it intends to impose transit fees.
The two weeks of renewed US bombing killed scores of people in Iran and destroyed bridges and tunnels across the south as well as military targets. Four US service members were killed by Iran's return fire against US bases in neighbouring Arab states. Iran also struck civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries in what it said was retaliation for US strikes on civilian targets.
The halt to the renewed US bombing campaign leaves no clear indication of what leverage Washington can exert to achieve Trump's aim to break Iran's grip on the strait. Washington and Tehran reached an agreement in June on a framework for talks meant to take place by the end of August to resolve major issues such as Iran's nuclear programme. But the sides have disputed the meaning of the memorandum's language about the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington insisting it requires Tehran to allow free travel while Iran says it grants it the authority to supervise transit.
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