Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to secure a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, with no progress reported on reviving an interim ceasefire agreement or setting a timeline for its implementation.
A senior Iranian source said discussions mediated between Tehran and Washington had failed to produce movement on returning to the interim agreement reached in June, further dimming hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough.
The development came as US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Iran’s leadership, while new incidents involving commercial shipping in the region heightened concerns over the security of vital Gulf trade routes.
The June agreement called for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”, but quickly unravelled. Trump declared the agreement “over” on July 7, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry said a week later that it had been “suspended”.
Washington has accused Tehran of failing to honour commitments under the agreement, including reopening the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
Iran, however, maintains that the United States reneged on its own commitments, including lifting a blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.
“One of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the U.S. returning to the interim agreement and defining a time frame for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,” the Iranian source said.
Trump on Wednesday claimed that the United States has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz.
But the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, established by Iran to manage the waterway, said the strait remained blocked and would not be reopened until Tehran’s conditions were accepted.
“Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of further escalation and claims that a peace agreement could soon be reached.
The Iranian source also rejected a report by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that cited Pakistani government sources as saying the 60-day interim period had been extended.
“There is no talk of an extension because, from Iran’s perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend. The United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later,” the source said.
Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict began, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
Iran has retaliated with strikes targeting US assets and infrastructure in countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The June agreement had established a 60-day period, extendable by mutual consent, for Iran and the United States to negotiate a final arrangement limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman and a major gateway into the Gulf, handled about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows before the war.
Oil markets have remained volatile since the conflict began, with Brent crude rising to a peak of about $126 a barrel — roughly 75 per cent above pre-war levels — amid concerns over disruptions to Gulf energy supplies.
Tensions escalated further on Tuesday after a suspected Houthi attack on a small cargo vessel killed four crew members in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
In a separate incident, a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship, according to the US military.
Oil prices initially rose before stabilising in volatile trading on Wednesday as doubts over a US-Iran agreement increased concerns about supply disruptions.
Brent crude futures traded at around $88 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude stood at approximately $83 a barrel.
Boluwatife Enome
Follow us on:
