The United States and Iran have agreed to pause hostilities following a fresh exchange of military strikes, even as the two sides offer sharply different accounts of what comes next. A ceasefire signed less than two weeks ago has been severely tested, raising questions about whether a broader diplomatic agreement can hold.
The latest escalation began on Thursday when an Iranian projectile struck a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula through which a significant share of the world's oil and gas passes. The US military responded over Friday and Saturday with strikes on multiple Iranian targets, which US Central Command described as a direct response to "continued aggression" against commercial shipping. Iran then struck US military positions in Kuwait and Bahrain. Washington says none of the incoming strikes caused casualties or material damage.
The exchange of blows came despite a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on 17 June, in which both countries agreed to an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts." Under the deal, Iran also committed to using its "best efforts" to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the strait for 60 days. A US-Iran hotline between American military commanders and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, intended to coordinate traffic through the waterway, was agreed during talks in Switzerland last week but had not yet been made operational as of Saturday.
A US official cited by multiple media outlets said both sides had now agreed to "stand down for now" and that vessels could move freely through the strait while technical talks continued. President Donald Trump went further, announcing on his Truth Social platform that Iran had "requested a meeting" and that it would take place in Doha, Qatar's capital. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that senior US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Doha for high-level discussions. Iran's Foreign Ministry, however, denied any scheduled diplomatic meeting with the US, saying it was sending only a technical delegation to Doha to follow up on the release of frozen Iranian funds — a separate matter.
The diplomatic confusion over Doha underscores the fragility of the broader deal. The US and Iran have until roughly mid-August to convert their MoU into a permanent agreement. Meanwhile, a parallel framework deal brokered by the US between Israel and Lebanon, aimed at ending fighting between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, also looked uncertain: Hezbollah's leadership rejected the agreement and Israel struck a Hezbollah tunnel two days after it was signed. Tehran has made clear it regards a halt to hostilities in Lebanon as linked to the durability of any wider ceasefire arrangement.