Hormuz uncertainty mars fragile US-Iran ceasefire

Experts say Gulf states wary US could agree to deal giving Iran leverage over strategic energy waterway.

The Gulf region breathed a collective sigh of relief late on Tuesday after Iran and the United States agreed on a two-week truce, pausing more than a month of increasingly violent attacks and inflammatory rhetoric.

Hours earlier, US President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out an “entire civilisation” and Tehran warned of further attacks across the Gulf and beyond.

But 90 minutes before the end of the deadline that Trump had imposed for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or “be sent back to the stone ages“, the US president said it had agreed to halt attacks for two weeks. That was on condition of maritime transit resuming in the vital waterway, where 20 per cent of the world’s oil and natural liquefied gas normally is shipped. Iran brought traffic through the chokepoint to a near standstill in response to joint US-Israeli attacks since February 28.

In a separate message, Trump described a 10-point plan put forward by Iran as “a workable basis on which to negotiate”. According to Iranian state media, one of Iran’s points is for Tehran to continue controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said passage over the two weeks will only be possible “in coordination” with the Iranian military.

While negotiations are set to kick off in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, at the weekend, experts say Gulf nations remain wary that the US, desperate for an exit, could agree to terms that grant Iran some control over the Strait of Hormuz.