DUBAI: Mediators were scrambling again on Friday to pull the United States and Iran back from the brink of renewed war, as days of strikes by the two countries appeared to settle into an uneasy pause.
A delegation from mediator Qatar arrived in Iran on Friday for talks, local media reported, as hostilities resumed between Washington and Tehran this week following attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
“The main purpose of the visit is reportedly to try to reinforce Qatar’s role as a mediator following events on Tuesday”, Tasnim news agency reported, after Doha accused Iran of an attack on an LNG carrier, with two other tankers also hit in the strait.
In recent days, several countries in the region — including Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, all of which host US military facilities — said they had come under Iranian attack.
President Trump said on Friday that Iran had asked the United States to continue talks and that Washington had agreed. And yet, writing on social media, he said that the United States had also told Tehran “in no uncertain terms” that the cease-fire was “OVER”, echoing remarks he made earlier this week and raising the prospect that negotiations could continue even as fighting persists.
Daily tanker traffic through the critical waterway appeared to have slowed on Friday, after the series of attacks stoked concerns about the recovery of global oil supplies and shipping; and highlighted the fragility of the interim truce.
Iran will respond to any attack against its infrastructure, including by striking Israel, the head of the country’s top security body said on Friday, as Tehran and Washington have resumed fighting this week.
“Any attack on infrastructure will be retaliated against and the criminal Zionist regime responsible for these atrocities will not be safe from the response of our fighters”, Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr said in a statement carried by state TV.
Fighting picked up again this week between the US and Iran in the most significant exchange of fire since the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17, seeking to formalise an April ceasefire and guide talks to conclusively end the war.
The US military carried out heavy strikes overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, saying it targeted 90 military sites.
The Strait of Hormuz handled about a fifth of global oil supplies before the war. Tehran has since largely taken control of the waterway, forcing a stalemate in its confrontation with the world’s most powerful military.
The UN shipping agency’s governing council on Friday condemned efforts by Iran to impose sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s “unilateral decision” to create a body to control traffic through it.
Prior to this week’s attacks, daily tanker traffic had risen to its highest since the war began, averaging 40 ships transiting the strait. That was still far off the pre-conflict average of 125 to 140 daily sailings. — Agencies
