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THE United States and Iran have agreed to halt recent military hostilities in the Gulf and restart negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz, offering a renewed diplomatic opening after days of escalating conflict threatened to derail an interim peace agreement.
A United States official said both sides had agreed to stand down while technical negotiations continue under a 14-point memorandum of understanding signed on June 17, which was designed to restore freedom of navigation through the strategically vital waterway.
"Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely," Reuters reported the official saying on Monday.
According to Axios, citing a senior United States official, negotiations are expected to resume in Qatar on Tuesday.
The diplomatic breakthrough follows several days of military exchanges after an Iranian projectile struck a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, prompting both Washington and Tehran to accuse each other of violating the interim ceasefire.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran launched missiles and drones targeting United States military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait after President Donald Trump warned that Washington could escalate military action if Tehran failed to honour the agreement.
"There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started," Trump wrote on social media.
"If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"
The latest agreement aims to preserve the June 17 peace framework, which sought to end fighting that began on February 28 while reopening one of the world's most critical energy shipping routes and allowing negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme to continue.
Although mediated talks involving United States Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf were held in Switzerland last week, accompanied by limited United States sanctions relief, hostilities resumed shortly afterwards.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its naval and aerospace forces had launched missile and drone attacks against United States military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain, arguing that recent American strikes had violated the ceasefire.
The Guards warned that the attacks "will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes", while its naval command declared that American military bases in the region "will experience hell in the coming days".
A United States official confirmed that Iranian attacks had targeted American facilities but said there were no reported United States casualties or significant damage, although the situation remained fluid.
Bahrain later reported that an Iranian drone damaged a residential building in Muharraq province without causing casualties, prompting the kingdom to call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to hold Iran accountable.
Kuwait's military said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.
Separately, Qatar confirmed that one of its nationals had died after suffering injuries from shrapnel aboard a vessel involved in military operations in the region. A second person was injured.
Meanwhile, regional tensions remained elevated after Israel announced fresh strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, targeting underground infrastructure used by the group.
The renewed attacks came only days after Israel reached a separate ceasefire arrangement with Lebanon, while Iran has maintained that stability in Lebanon remains essential to sustaining the broader regional agreement. - June 29, 2026
