Negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are making progress, Qatari and American officials said Tuesday, but a deal with Iran has yet to be announced that could pave the way to reviving a broader cease-fire with the United States.
Majed al-Ansari, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters that the talks were in “very progressive stages” and that draft language of a possible agreement had been “circulated among the parties.”
It is unclear what role Qatar has played in the negotiations, but the Persian Gulf country has served as a mediator between Iran and the United States, including on the recent truce, which collapsed last month.
Iran blockaded the strait, a critical conduit for oil and gas shipments, after the U.S.-Israeli assault began in late February. The move has throttled global energy markets and raised pressure on President Trump to end the war. Now, Iran and neighboring Oman — both of which abut the strait — have been negotiating how to administer the waterway, according to Iranian officials.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a televised interview on Tuesday that he believed an agreement could be imminent. “We are in talks with the Iranians, and I think there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow,” Mr. Bessent said on CNBC.
The price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell more than 2 percent to about $82 a barrel on Tuesday, as markets appeared to respond to optimism about a potential deal.
The Trump administration had hoped that the short-lived cease-fire, agreed on in June, would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, it collapsed into renewed fighting, as Iran has sought to enforce its authority there.
Iran has enforced its claim by attacking commercial ships as they have tried to transit the strait. That has drawn American bombing runs inside Iran, as well as a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
On Monday, a cargo ship, the Greek-owned Minoan Pioneer, was hit near Oman and one of its crew members was missing, according to the International Maritime Organization. It was unclear who struck the vessel.
Mediators hope that restoring the flow of ships through the Strait of Hormuz will end the current cycle of attacks and counterattacks between the United States and Iran and allow the two countries to return to the June cease-fire agreement. That was supposed to pave the way for talks on the Iranian nuclear program and sanctions relief for Iran’s battered economy.
Over the weekend, Mr. Trump threatened an immense military escalation against Iran before abruptly pulling back, citing pleas for calm from regional allies.
“Our focus right now is on avoiding escalation, reopening the strait and reopening the door for diplomacy between the parties,” said Mr. al-Ansari, the Qatari official. “What we do not want to see right now is a major escalation in our region.”
An arrangement with Iran to reopen the strait could come with a geopolitical cost for the United States. Iranian officials say they are designing the accord to ratify their capacity to control the strait and retain strategic leverage that they did not employ before the war.
Officials familiar with the emerging proposal have said that, under the new framework, vessels heading into the Persian Gulf would have to transit a channel controlled by Iran, while outbound ships would travel on a channel near Oman.
Reporting was contributed by Peter Eavis, David E. Sanger, Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt.
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