Iran and the United States remain at odds over efforts to revive an interim agreement aimed at ending the Gulf war, with Tehran saying there has been no progress towards restoring the deal reached in June.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday that talks through mediators had failed to make headway on bringing Washington back into the interim agreement and setting a timeline for implementing its commitments.
The June deal called for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts” and gave Iran and the US a 60-day period, extendable by mutual consent, to negotiate a final agreement limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme and lifting US sanctions.
However, the arrangement quickly fell apart.
US President Donald Trump declared the deal “over” on July 7, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry described it as “suspended” a week later.
Washington has accused Tehran of failing to honour its commitment to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for global energy supplies.
Iran, however, says the US has failed to meet its own obligations, including lifting the blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.
“There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,” the Iranian source said, referring to efforts to revive the interim agreement and establish a timetable for its implementation.
The source also rejected a report by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that Iran and the US had agreed to extend the 60-day period.
“There is no talk of an extension,” the source said, arguing that the period never properly began because Washington violated the agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it days later.
Hormuz Remains Closed
The dispute comes amid renewed tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, which remains closed as the two sides trade accusations.
Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has “total control” over the strategic waterway.
But Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority maintained that the strait would remain blocked until Tehran’s conditions for reopening it were accepted.
Trump also renewed his criticism of Iran’s leadership, saying on his Truth Social platform that Iran was “all talk and no action”.
Since the conflict began on February 28, thousands of people have been killed, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.
Iran has also attacked US assets and infrastructure in Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Shipping Attacks Raise Fresh Concerns
The Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and Oman and serves as the entrance to the Gulf, handled about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows before the war.
Oil prices have remained volatile since the conflict began, with Brent crude reaching a peak of $126 a barrel, about 75 per cent above pre-war levels, amid fears of further disruption to Gulf energy supplies.
On Tuesday, four crew members were killed in a suspected Houthi attack on a small cargo vessel 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.
The attacks initially pushed oil prices higher, although they later steadied after forecasts for 2026 oil demand were lowered.
Brent crude was trading at around $88 a barrel on Wednesday, while US West Texas Intermediate was around $83.
With the peace process stalled and the Strait of Hormuz still closed, uncertainty over the region’s energy supplies and the possibility of further military escalation continue to weigh on global markets.
