The ‘Al-Riqqa’ oil tanker (L) and ‘Al-Yarmouk’ oil tankers sail within the Arabian Gulf waters, off the coast of Kuwait Metropolis on June 27, 2026. (Picture by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP through Getty Photos) /
Yasser Al-zayyat | Afp | Getty Photos
Talks to finish the U.S. warfare with Iran are reportedly on maintain after the U.S. struck Iranian army targets in retaliation for Tehran’s newest strikes on transport vessels within the Strait of Hormuz.
A Pakistani supply concerned within the negotiations to settle the battle between the U.S. and Iran informed MS NOW that whereas the talks are actually on maintain, all sides are sustaining representatives in Switzerland to restart discussions when given the go-ahead.
The supply didn’t clarify to MS NOW which aspect determined to pause negotiations.
A senior Trump administration official, nonetheless, mentioned the talks had not been referred to as off.
“Nothing has been cancelled,” the official mentioned in an announcement to MS NOW. “Technical talks concerning the implementation of [memorandum of understanding] are on observe for the approaching days as deliberate.”
Axios later reported that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to cease attacking one another and meet later this week. CNBC has not independently confirmed the report.
A U.S. official later informed CNBC Sunday that “Technical talks are slated to proceed on all areas of the MOU.”
“Each side will stand down for now and vessels can transfer freely,” the official mentioned.
The diplomatic freeze comes after the change of fireside prompted U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday to once more threaten Iran with annihilation following U.S. assaults on Iranian army targets in retaliation for Tehran’s newest strikes on transport within the strategically important waterway.
Iran’s neighbors, Kuwait and Bahrain, reported incoming missiles and drones in a single day.
“United States plane simply struck Iranian missile and drone storage areas, and coastal radar websites, for violating the Stop Hearth Settlement, AGAIN!,” Trump wrote on Fact Social.
The U.S. army attacked plenty of Iranian targets after a business tanker within the Strait of Hormuz was reported to have been struck by a projectile on Saturday.
U.S. Central Command mentioned early Sunday that fighter jets struck 10 Iranian army targets in and close to the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for a drone strike on the Panamanian-flagged tanker, the M/T Kiku. The ship was transiting the strait with greater than two million barrels of crude oil, CentCom mentioned late Saturday.
“There could come a degree once we are not capable of be cheap, and might be compelled to militarily full the job that we very efficiently began. If that occurs, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not exist!” Trump wrote.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to ship Iran again to the “stone age.”
In an April Fact Social submit, Trump threatened “a complete civilization will die tonight” and raised the specter of nuclear warfare. “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and so they higher get shifting, FAST, or there will not be something left of them,” Trump mentioned in a submit in Could.
Kuwait and Bahrain underneath assault
Iran mentioned it struck U.S. army targets in Kuwait and Bahrain early Sunday following U.S. strikes on its coastal amenities.
Kuwait’s military mentioned its air defenses have been “confronting hostile missile and drone assaults.”
Bahrain’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs condemned “the renewed Iranian aggression towards its territory, concentrating on it once more with plenty of ballistic missiles and drones, in a harmful escalation.”
“What Tehran is doing just isn’t a passing act, nor an remoted incident, however somewhat a deliberate method and a scientific sample of repeated aggression,” Bahrain’s assertion added.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar — which have each been repeatedly struck by Iranian projectiles — condemned Iran’s assaults on Bahrain and Kuwait, describing them as violations of these international locations’ sovereignty and worldwide regulation. Saudi Arabia additionally denounced Iran’s assaults, “in addition to towards the safety and freedom of navigation within the Strait of Hormuz.”
Regardless of the barrage of assaults, Central Command mentioned business vessel transits by way of the essential waterway proceed.
Oil costs prolonged declines on Friday as extra tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz, easing provide considerations.
Worldwide benchmark Brent crude futures for August settled down 4.34% at $71.99 a barrel, whereas U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for August declined 3.74% to finish at $69.23 a barrel. The final time WTI futures closed beneath $70 was on Feb. 27 — the day earlier than the beginning of the Iran warfare.
CentCom mentioned the U.S. assaults focused Iranian “army surveillance infrastructure, communication techniques, air protection websites, drone storage amenities, and minelayer capabilities.”
Escalation amid negotiation
The recent assaults come because the U.S. and Iran are imagined to be participating in a 60-day ceasefire as they maintain talks to finish their warfare. However each have accused the opposite of violating their finish of the settlement.
The U.S. army struck Iran on Friday after Trump accused the Islamic Republic of “silly violation” of a ceasefire settlement by launching drone assaults at ships within the strait.
Iran on Thursday struck the Singapore-flagged cargo ship Ever Pretty within the strait off the coast of Oman, Central Command mentioned in a submit on X. The vessel continued on its means by way of the strait, a serious thoroughfare for oil shipments.
The renewed assaults come greater than every week after Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed toward growing a everlasting peace deal to finish the warfare between their two nations.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min, Terri Cullen and Dan Mangan contributed to this report
