Mediators have achieved progress in getting the United States and Iran back to negotiations, regional officials said on July 27, after both sides paused attacks following a period of rapidly escalating tensions, AP reports, citing sources.

The two regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, said mediators led by Qatar and Pakistan were working to bridge the gap between Washington and Tehran to return to an interim ceasefire deal that had collapsed after the exchanges of fire.

One of the regional officials described the progress made in mediation efforts as “significant.” He said mediators were working with Iran and Oman on a mechanism for managing vessels’ transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the flashpoint for the latest strikes and counterstrikes.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, remarked during a news conference in Tehran on July 27 that “mediators may convey messages to us from the American side” but that there were no direct negotiations.

He made it clear that Iran and Oman, which lies on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, had already held talks on Friday and Saturday on how to manage ship traffic through the waterway.

“The objective is for Iran and Oman, as the two coastal states, to develop mechanisms to ensure safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while respecting the sovereign rights and sovereignty of both coastal states, as well as Iran’s security and national interests” Baghaei noted. He stressed that the waterway remains closed.

Tehran has asserted that the interim deal with the U.S. allows it to manage shipping on the waterway and potentially charge fees, and it has objected to U.S. efforts to support an alternative route that passes close to Oman. The strait was open to all without fees before the war.

The US has paused attacks after targeting Iranian coastal areas and infrastructure in a nearly two-week escalation sparked by Iran’s firing at ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil shipments.

US President Donald Trump is “giving talks some space. He’s giving it a little bit of room,” Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News.

Waltz dismissed the idea that the US stockpile of interceptors crucial in defending against Iranian attacks is running low, but experts have questioned how long both the US and Iran can afford to keep up attacks.

Iran halted its attacks following the American pause, Tehran’s army spokesperson told Iranian state TV on Sunday.

Tehran in recent days has counterattacked against countries in the region hosting U.S. military forces, killing at least three service members at a base in Jordan and one in Iraq.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov

Source: caliber.az