Iran and the United States have agreed to cease recent hostilities in the Gulf and resume talks concerning their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official. This agreement aims to salvage an interim peace deal that had been strained by days of reciprocal strikes.
Technical discussions are scheduled to continue on all aspects of the 14-point memorandum of understanding, which was initially agreed upon on June 17. Under this memorandum, the Strait of Hormuz is to be reopened for traffic. Both sides are expected to stand down, allowing vessels to move freely.
The resumption of diplomacy follows several days of escalating strikes and counterstrikes. These actions began after an Iranian projectile struck a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. Both the U.S. and Iran had accused each other of violating an interim ceasefire established on June 17.
In a significant development, Iran launched missiles and drones targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain early Sunday. This occurred shortly after President Donald Trump issued a statement threatening that the Islamic Republic would cease to exist if it failed to honor the agreement to end the conflict.
The U.S. military confirmed Iran's targeting of U.S. facilities, reporting no U.S. casualties or major damage to sites in the Middle East, though the situation remained fluid. Alarms sounded in Bahrain for a second time, with authorities reporting that an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province without casualties. Bahrain has called for an urgent session of the U.N. Security Council to hold Iran accountable. Kuwait's army intercepted two ballistic missiles with no reported damage or casualties.
Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that its navy and air forces had conducted missile and drone operations against U.S. military locations in Kuwait and Bahrain, asserting that U.S. strikes had breached the ceasefire and would lead to a complete halt of diplomatic processes. The IRGC Navy command warned that American bases in the region "will experience hell in the coming days."
Additionally, Qatar reported that one of its nationals died after sustaining shrapnel injuries aboard a vessel that had gone missing on Saturday. A second person was injured in the incident, attributed to "military operations in the area."
Meanwhile, Israel reported striking Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Sunday, destroying underground infrastructure in a village in southern Lebanon. This followed a Saturday strike and occurred after Israel's latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Friday. Iran has stated that the fighting in Lebanon must cease for the broader agreement to hold.
President Trump had previously posted on social media, "There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started."
He added, "If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!" The 14-point interim peace accord was intended to halt the fighting, initiated by the U.S. and Israel on February 28, and to reopen the strait while negotiations on issues such as Iran's nuclear program proceeded.
A round of mediated talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, took place in Switzerland the previous week, resulting in Washington waiving sanctions on Tehran. However, hostilities have since reignited and intensified.