Pakistan said on Tuesday the United States and Iran were close to "some sort" of deal, and fellow mediator Qatar said talks on managing the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage, despite reports of new attacks on shipping in regional waters.
The comments offered some hope that Iran and the US can end a stalemate that has in effect blocked the vital waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war. Prospects for a deal had appeared to dim on Monday after the sides' latest remarks and demands.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said "things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal."
"The signals in the last two three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on Tuesday, Araghchi’s Telegram channel said on Tuesday, without providing further details.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a briefing earlier on Tuesday that separate discussions between Oman and Iran over management of the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage.
Iran's Foreign Ministry's Public Relations Office did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Pakistan and Qatar have been the main mediators in the conflict in which thousands have been killed — mainly in Iran and Lebanon — since US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has hit back by striking Gulf countries, Jordan and Israel.
OIL PARES GAINS ON DEAL HOPES
Oil fell back on Tuesday after hitting a one-week high earlier in trading although it remains much higher than before the war.
Iran said on Sunday it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between them, but said that in itself would not open the waterway unless the US met certain conditions.
Those conditions were largely in line with a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict that was reached between Washington and Tehran in June and included compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats.
Araghchi said on Sunday that Tehran and Washington were not holding direct talks, but that messages were being exchanged through intermediaries.
US President Donald Trump responded on Monday night, making new demands, saying he was seeking his own reparations from Tehran, seemingly leaving the two sides deadlocked.
"We're going to ask for money for the damage they've done over a 50-year period," Trump said at the White House, saying payments would cover deaths among both civilian demonstrators and US forces in the region.
"So, if there's damages to be paid, I think Iran should pay those damages," Trump said.
TWO VESSELS STRUCK
Despite tentative signs of progress in diplomacy, there were reports of new attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea, highlighting the widening threat to maritime trade.
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, Yemen's Transport Ministry said.
The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah, if confirmed, would be the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began. The Houthis have not claimed the attack.
A container ship was also hit by a missile off Pakistan, while sailing through the Gulf of Oman in a suspected US attack, sources said.
The Wall Street Journal reported a US official as saying that the ship had been hit by a US military helicopter after its crew ignored warnings from personnel working to enforce a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The US first announced a blockade of shipping trying to reach Iran's ports in April and reimposed it in July after the June peace accord crumbled.
Trump is under pressure to end a war that US polls show is deeply unpopular with the US electorate, just months before key midterm elections in which his Republican Party risks steep losses with high gasoline prices a key pain point.
So far, a months-long US military campaign, including a two-week campaign of strikes in July, has not broken Iran's grip on the strait, despite Trump saying the strait was open and that the "only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy."
