U.S. and Iran Approach Deal on Strait of Hormuz Despite Shipping Attacks

DUBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Pakistan said on Tuesday the United States and Iran were close to "some sort" of deal, and fellow mediator Qatar said talks on managing the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage, despite reports of new attacks on shipping in regional waters.

The comments offered some hope that Iran and the U.S. can end a stalemate that has in effect blocked the vital waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war. Prospects for a deal had appeared to dim on Monday after the sides' latest remarks and demands.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said "things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal."

"The signals in the last two three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on Tuesday, Araqchi's Telegram channel said on Tuesday, without providing further details.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a briefing earlier on Tuesday that separate discussions between Oman and Iran over management of the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage.

Iran's Foreign Ministry's Public Relations Office did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

Pakistan and Qatar have been the main mediators in the conflict in which thousands have been killed — mainly in Iran and Lebanon — since U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has hit back by striking U.S. assets and infrastructure in countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Oil fell back on Tuesday after hitting a one-week high earlier in trading although it remains much higher than before the war.

Iran said on Sunday it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between them, but said that in itself would not open the waterway unless the U.S. met certain conditions.

Those conditions were largely in line with a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict that was reached between Washington and Tehran in June and included compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that Tehran and Washington were not holding direct talks, but that messages were being exchanged through intermediaries.

U.S. President Donald Trump responded on Monday night, making new demands, saying he was seeking his own reparations from Tehran, seemingly leaving the two sides deadlocked.

"We're going to ask for money for the damage they've done over a 50-year period," Trump said at the White House, saying payments would cover deaths among both civilian demonstrators and U.S. forces in the region.

"So if there's damages to be paid, I think Iran should pay those damages," Trump said.

Despite tentative signs of progress in diplomacy, there were reports of new attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea, highlighting the widening threat to maritime trade.

Four crew members were killed in a suspected attack by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on a small cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Tuesday, Yemen's Transport Ministry said.

The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah, if confirmed, would be the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began. The Houthis have not claimed the attack.

A container ship was also hit by a missile off Pakistan, while sailing through the Gulf of Oman in a suspected U.S. attack, sources said.

The Wall Street Journal reported a U.S. official as saying that the ship had been hit by a U.S. military helicopter after its crew ignored warnings from personnel working to enforce a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

The U.S. first announced a blockade of shipping trying to reach Iran's ports in April and reimposed it in July after the June peace accord crumbled.

The Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on July 20 in response to what they described as a Saudi siege. Riyadh denies that Yemen is under siege.

Trump is under pressure to end a war that U.S. polls show is deeply unpopular with the U.S. electorate, just months before key midterm elections in which his Republican Party risks steep losses with high gasoline prices a key pain point.

So far, a months-long U.S. military campaign, including a two-week campaign of strikes in July, has not broken Iran's grip on the strait, despite Trump saying the strait was open and that the "only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy."

(Reporting by Tala Ramadan and Elwely Elwelly, Writing by Sharon Singleton, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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