TEHEAN
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi night said talks with the United States were making progress with Pakistan’s “gracious effort,” while cautioning Washington against being drawn into further escalation amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. The statement comes after US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the Strait of Hormuz with duelling maritime blockades, shaking a fragile truce.
US President Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the strait, the vital energy-trade chokepoint that has been virtually closed since the US and Israel began attacks on Iran in February, a war that has killed thousands of people across the region.
Trump gave scant details about his new effort, which he called “Project Freedom,” to help stuck ships travel through the strait when he announced it on social media, two days after a legal deadline under US law had passed for him to get authorisation from Congress for the war. Trump told Congress the war was “terminated” and the deadline was moot, a claim disputed by some lawmakers.
It was the first apparent attempt to use military force since last month’s ceasefire announcement to unblock the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said can only happen with its permission. The cost of shipping insurance has also rocketed. For weeks, the US Navy has blockaded Iran’s trade by sea, which Iran says is itself an act of war.
