File- Vehicles drive past a giant billboard reading “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” at the Revolution Square in Tehran on Tuesday. (Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images)
Iran’s military command blamed the U.S., saying it failed to prevent Israel from violating the cease-fire in Lebanon. Mediators in Pakistan said “technical talks” between the U.S. and Iran to end the war would be held on Sunday.
Here’s the latest.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz was unclear on Saturday, as Iran’s military said that it had again closed the critical waterway to maritime traffic and the U.S. military said ships were still transiting through it, leaving a key element of the preliminary U.S.-Iran peace deal in limbo.
The Iranian military, in its announcement, accused the United States of violating its commitments in the deal by failing to contain hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, who exchanged fire again on Saturday. But Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, later said: “Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case.”
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said by text on Saturday that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. “Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case,” he said, after Iran’s military command declared that the Strait of Hormuz was closed to maritime traffic. “The strait is open and the U.S. blockade against Iran has ceased,” Hawkins added.
Earlier, U.S. Central Command said that 55 vessels had gone through the strait on Saturday.
Windward, a maritime analysis firm, said 22 ships went through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, a preliminary total it released before Iran’s military command said it had closed the waterway. Six ships went through on a southern route near Oman, where U.S. forces have assisted transits, said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a Windward analyst. Ships using that route have been turning off their tracking devices to make them harder to detect.
Wiese Bockmann said Windward’s number for the southern route would probably be higher once ships turned their tracking devices back on and became detectable. Windward said 16 ships used a northern route that is controlled by Iran. U.S. Central Command said 55 commercial vessels had gone through the strait on Saturday.
Ceasefire violated in Lebanon by Hezbollah
After a cease-fire was announced in Lebanon on Friday afternoon, the sixth such effort in a matter of weeks, little had changed 24 hours later as the truce once again devolved into more Israeli strikes and Hezbollah fire.
Israel pounded towns and villages across southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least seven people and wounding more than a dozen, according to Lebanon’s health ministry after Hezbollah fired 50 rockets at Israel in the middle of the night
US-Iran talks to start on Sunday
Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement that technical-level talks would be held in Switzerland on Sunday. Representatives from the United States and Iran, as well as mediators from Pakistan and Qatar will attend, according to a statement. The statement was released after Iran’s military command said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz and as Pakistan’s interior minister met with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in Tehran.
The New York Times
