Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the US and Iran are close to reaching some sort of arrangement regarding the Strait of Hormuz, according to statements reported on Tuesday.
Things are shaping up in favor of peace.
Asif pointed to signals from the last two or three days indicating that Washington and Tehran are nearing an agreement. He also stated that a trilateral defense agreement between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan is not connected to the US-Iran war.
Diplomatic visits and talks
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran to meet with Iranian leadership. A Pakistani government source told Anadolu that Naqvi would share 'some new proposals' with Iranian leadership to resolve the Hormuz standoff. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks with Naqvi in Tehran on Tuesday, and the Iranian IRNA news agency reported that they discussed key diplomatic and bilateral issues.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni had traveled to Islamabad one month prior to Naqvi's visit to Tehran.
Background and mediation efforts
The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17. Pakistan and Qatar played mediating roles in facilitating that agreement. Negotiations between the two countries later stalled due to disagreements over security guarantees and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Between July 8 and July 24, the US and Iran exchanged military strikes. During that period, the US launched attacks on targets inside Iran, and Iran responded by striking US military facilities and equipment in several Arab countries, including Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that talks between Iran and Oman about reopening the Strait of Hormuz to maritime shipping have reached an 'advanced stage'.
Noam Raydan, a William Sudhaus Senior Fellow at The Near East Institute, said that data shows the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea will remain essential choke points.
Tehran and Oman may be nearing an agreement, but the impact on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains unclear.
