President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
20 ships crossed Strait of Hormuz over weekend, Kpler says
Nine ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and 11 ships on Saturday, according to maritime intelligence firm Kpler. Seven of Sunday's nine crossings were conducted via the Iranian route in the northern part of the waterway, Kpler said.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait -- which sits at the southern entrance to the Red Sea -- recorded 30 crossings on Sunday, down from 37 crossings on Saturday and 42 crossings on Friday, Kpler said.
"The diplomatic outlook is still unsettled. Until U.S., Iranian and Omani signals converge into clear navigation arrangements, operators should treat both chokepoints as contested rather than normalized," Kpler said.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
Aug 03, 2026, 4:27 AM EDT
No negotiations ongoing with the US, Iranian official says
In his weekly press conference on Monday morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that ongoing talks with Oman are strictly about the Strait of Hormuz and that "the issues related to Iran and the United States should be examined in the next stages to see in which direction the situation will go."
"We will have to wait a while to see whether this stage and this process can be connected to another process that leads to a reduction in tension in the region," Baqaei said when asked whether an agreement with Oman was actually the beginning of talks with the U.S.
Baqaei also spoke about the substance of the Strait of Hormuz negotiations, saying talks have focused on agreeing on a single corridor for ships to cross through, rather than the divided northern and southern routes that currently exist.
Women walk past a banner showing portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L), Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei (C), and the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under a bridge in northern Tehran, Iran, on Aug. 2, 2026.
Vahid Salemi/AP Photo
He also addressed the ongoing diplomatic tensions between Iran and Ukraine after Ukraine struck an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea a few weeks ago, as part of its campaign to target ships linked to Russia near the Russian coast.
"We will definitely take whatever action is necessary, both to hold Ukraine accountable and to ensure that such a mistake and crime is not repeated by the Ukrainian side again," Baqaei said.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
Aug 03, 2026, 3:12 AM EDT
Strait of Hormuz will never return to pre-war situation, Iran official says
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a television interview on Sunday that "under no circumstances" will the Strait of Hormuz return to its pre-war situation, regardless of ongoing talks with Oman, according to a readout published by the state-run IRNA news agency.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that negotiations with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their "final stages," but Baqaei said that did not mean that the strategic waterway would be fully reopened as it was before the U.S. and Israel launched their military campaign in February.
"We must ensure that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be misused by parties that have committed aggression against Iran. This requires a mechanism in which Iran's sovereign rights are fully respected," Baqaei said, as quoted by IRNA.
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, on July 31, 2026.
Stringer/Reuters
Baqaei said the resumption of fighting in the region had disrupted plans to secure commercial shipping as outlined in the memorandum of understanding signed with the U.S. in June.
"During the first 22 or 23 days of implementing the agreement, the northern route of the Strait was completely secure and ships were passing through it. However, before the end of the 30-day period envisioned for restoring maritime traffic to pre-war conditions, an act of aggression against Iran took place," he said.
After the war disrupted the existing maritime traffic separation scheme in the Strait, ships transiting the area have used either the northern route, which sits along the Iranian coastline, or the southern route along the Omani coastline. Baqaei said that talks with Oman are intended to establish a new route.
Meanwhile, Baqaei said that Tehran will not be pressured by external threats. "Any assumption that threats and media pressure can make Iran retreat from its principled positions is inconsistent with past experience. We will continue to act based on what serves the country's interests," he said.
Aug 02, 2026, 6:46 PM EDT
Trump claims new deal with Iran 'imminent,' negotiations set for Monday
President Donald Trump said on Air Force One Sunday that he called off a weekend attack against Iran at the request of Gulf allies, claiming again that a deal is “imminent.”
Trump added that negotiations between the parties are set to commence on Monday.
“I was asked to by Saudi Arabia, UAE and by Qatar and by Iran. We were all set to go just about at this time right now,” Trump said of calling off the strikes. "We're all set to go. But when the allies asked to call it off, you got to sort of say, well, let's see.”
“The deal is imminent, having to do with the Hormuz Strait, and also, the -- ultimately the denuclearization of Iran,” Trump added.
Still, Trump said that the U.S. was “ready to go” whenever it wants to resume strikes.
