RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesPresident Donald Trump accused Iran of duplicity and insisted the two sides were discussing reopening the Strait of Hormuz as early as Tuesday, even as Tehran denied talks were even taking place. The diplomatic confusion was underscored by an attack on a cargo vessel near the strait’s Oman coast, as reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, an organization run by the British navy that helps protect commercial shipping in high-risk areas. With traffic through the bottleneck still at a trickle of its peacetime flow, the international oil benchmark Brent crude rose again by 2.7% Tuesday, reflecting uncertainty in the market rather than any confidence in the diplomatic process. On Monday, Trump branded Iran “unbelievably duplicitous” and accused it of asking for talks on ending the war only to announce no discussions would be held. “They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’” he wrote on Truth Social. “Talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman.’” In response to Trump’s claims of talks, Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters, “We currently do not have negotiations with America.” Iran is in discussions with Oman over a temporary safe route through the strait, Baghaei said, adding it has no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days. “We, of course, commend the Omani effort in aiding the mediation in this way. They have been taking a very important role and a significant role in the past couple of weeks,” Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons, who asked about the Omanis’ role during a news conference in Doha. “Mediators in Qatar, Pakistan and now Oman are all working together on that issue. We are coordinating very closely with the Omanis to facilitate the talks between both sides: exchanging ideas, exchanging drafts between between both sides,” he said. Trump later told reporters at the White House that negotiations with Tehran were “going on right now.” “It’s an amazing thing we have a little problem with Iran because we have many talks, and we’ll say we have or we don’t have. You know, we’re straight about it, but they deny it,” Trump said. “But they’re not denying it now. They just put out a statement not denying it.” On the strait, he said the parties were discussing “having it open literally by tomorrow, completely open, and that’s phase one,” adding that the second phase of talks would focus on Iran’s nuclear program. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC, “There is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict.” The president had earlier called off intense new strikes on Iran, giving space for what he said would be fresh negotiations. Attacks have come the other way, though, with a cargo vessel reporting being struck by an “unknown projectile” on Oman’s coast Monday night, the UKMTO said. Maritime sources told Reuters on Tuesday that the vessel struck near Hormuz was a dry bulk ship. Its crew had to abandon the vessel and one seafarer was missing, the sources said. Whereas in peacetime around 100 ships would pass through the strait in a day, at least six vessels passed through Monday, according to an NBC News analysis of MarineTraffic data. Most of these, such as the Chinese-owned tanker Starway and the Indian-managed Horizon 1, continued to use the Iranian route, through which vessels sail south of Larak Island. In the absence of an agreed safe route between Iran and Oman, some vessels are taking a chance traveling along the Omani coast, their transponders turned off so as not to broadcast their positions. The ship hit Monday evening was one of these, showing the risk still posed to those sailing through the strait.
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