US President Donald Trump vowed to keep troops in the Persian Gulf ahead of talks with Iran that are planned to firm up a fragile truce, while the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shut as shipowners await clarification on the status of the key waterway.
Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire that was announced Tuesday after almost six weeks of fighting, with a disagreement over whether the truce extends to Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon emerging as a bone of contention.
US Vice President JD Vance said Washington never suggested that Israel’s operations in Lebanon would cease. But Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said continued attacks on Hezbollah – including a Wednesday operation on parts of Beirut that killed more than 200 people – amounted to clear violations of the agreement.
Despite the escalating rhetoric, there were signs the ceasefire was largely holding on Thursday, with a notable decline in attacks across Arab states in the Persian Gulf.
Diplomatic efforts are continuing, with US and Iranian officials set to begin talks in Islamabad on Saturday. Vance is expected to lead the American delegation, while Iranian negotiators are due to arrive in the Pakistani capital on Thursday.
Tehran announced designated shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war. Control over the waterway – and safe passage for tankers – will be a major focus of talks as fears linger of a global energy supply crisis.
Two fully laden Chinese oil tankers are part of a growing armada amassing at the entrance to the strait.
If Iran doesn’t comply with the ceasefire agreement, “which is highly unlikely, then the ‘shootin’ starts’ – bigger and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” Trump said in a Truth Social post shortly before midnight in Washington on Wednesday. “It was agreed a long time ago… NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE.”
Markets reflected the lingering uncertainty, with oil prices rebounding after Wednesday’s steep declines and stocks falling. Brent crude traded about 3 percent higher at $98 a barrel at 11 a.m. in London on Thursday.
The sporadic fighting that continued Wednesday was mainly concentrated in Lebanon, where Israel launched its largest assault since the start of the war, escalating the campaign against Hezbollah.
“I think the Iranians thought the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t,” said Vance, who was traveling in Hungary. “We never made that promise, we never indicated that was gonna be the case.”
The vice president added that Israel had agreed to “check themselves a little bit in Lebanon” to support negotiations. Hezbollah said it fired rockets toward Israel in response to Wednesday’s assault.
European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas said Israel’s right to defend itself doesn’t justify “inflicting such massive destruction in Lebanon,” warning that the offensive is hurting peace talks.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is also pushing for Lebanon to be included in the truce accord, while China said Lebanese “sovereignty and security should not be violated.”
Gulf Arab states haven’t reported any attacks since Wednesday, with the last notable strike taking place on a key oil pipeline carrying crude to Saudi Arabia’s western coast.
Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization announced two designated safe routes for vessels entering and exiting Hormuz, state-run Nour News reported. Those routes were established to avoid the potential presence of mines in the primary traffic lanes and all ships are asked to coordinate with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps until further notice, Nour said.
More than 800 freighters are stuck inside the Persian Gulf, mostly waiting to leave, and owners and insurer groups have warned that more details will be needed to determine if safe transit is possible.
Just three ships were observed leaving the region on Wednesday, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg shows. In normal times, about 135 vessels cross daily.
Trump’s ceasefire announcement Tuesday night in Washington marked a retreat from threats to unleash massive devastation on Iran, easing fears of a protracted global energy crisis. Oil prices plunged more than 17 percent on news of the agreement, the biggest one-day drop since 2020.
Trump made conflicting claims about the deal, including suggesting a joint US-Iran toll system for ships in Hormuz. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that proposal hadn’t been accepted.
“That’s not something we’ve said that we’ve definitively accepted,” she said. “The joint venture is something that was proposed by the president, but he was very clear in his statement last night – he wants to see the strait reopened, immediately, without limitation and that’s something we’re going to hold them to.”
Trump also said Iran had undergone a “regime change,” even though there have been no signs this week that new leadership had taken hold. He indicated the US would use its 15-point plan as the basis of negotiations with Tehran, while remaining open to sanctions relief.
Iran’s demands include its continued control of Hormuz, acceptance of its nuclear-enrichment activities, the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, and a withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, according to a statement by its Supreme National Security Council carried by state media.
Trump reiterated there would be no uranium enrichment, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said highly enriched uranium would be removed from Iran, one way or another.
The United Arab Emirates called for a “sustained approach” to address Iran’s full range of threats, including its nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles.
The war on the Islamic Republic has claimed more than 5,500 lives since it began with the joint strikes on Iran by the US-Israeli alliance on Feb. 28, with most of the fatalities in the Islamic Republic.
At least 203 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The attacks brought the death toll in the country to 1,739, according to its health ministry.
