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A top U.S. official said Tuesday that a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be struck “today or tomorrow,” sending oil prices tumbling on hopes of increased shipments through the vital waterway.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC “there is a chance we may have a deal” in the coming hours, echoing President Donald Trump.
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Speaking from the White House on Monday, Trump kept up his familiar combination of optimism for diplomacy and threats, warning that this was Iran’s “last chance before decapitation.”
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Tehran and Washington have been at war since Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran. Despite a ceasefire and a preliminary deal in the months since, diplomacy has failed to end the conflict.
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Underlining the volatile situation, one crew member was listed missing Tuesday on a merchant ship hit by a projectile in Hormuz, while an Indian ship in the Red Sea sank following an unattributed attack.
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The Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit for global oil and gas supplies, has been the spark for renewed fighting.
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Iran wants to control the strait and charge tolls, powers it did not exercise before the war, developments fiercely opposed by the U.S.
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In what has become a regular pattern, Trump last week threatened to hit Iran “very hard,” potentially with attacks against civilian infrastructure, only to pull back, hinting a deal was near.
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But Iran’s foreign ministry denied negotiations with Washington, even as Trump insisted they were happening.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States was involved in negotiations between Oman and Iran on increasing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Oil prices plummeted on the rekindled hopes of reopening the strait, with benchmark Brent North Sea Crude prices falling over six percent to below US$79.00 per barrel.
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Qatar, which has been mediating negotiations, said that diplomatic efforts were ongoing but that no direct Iran-U.S. talks were planned.
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Its leader, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, spoke with Trump by phone on Tuesday, with Doha saying they discussed “efforts to de-escalate tensions”.
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Trump had previously said he expected to know by Tuesday how the talks were going, “one way or the other”, but insisted “it’s not very complex”.
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Washington’s diplomatic goals include reopening Hormuz and the denuclearization of Iran, which Trump accepted could “take a little while.”
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The president previously called Tehran “duplicitous” for saying it was not negotiating, adding that a U.S. counter-blockade of Iranian ports would remain “unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished.”
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More than five months into a war that has cost Washington billions of dollars, Iran remains able to fire missiles and drones at U.S. and allied targets in the region, as well as at commercial shipping.
