US, Iran may resume talks this week despite port blockade

Washington: Talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, U.S. President ‌Donald Trump said on Tuesday, after ​the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.

Gulf, Pakistani and Iranian officials also said negotiating teams from the U.S. and Iran could return to Pakistan later this week, though one senior Iranian source said no date had been set.

"You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we're more inclined to go there," Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the New York Post.

While the U.S. blockade drew angry rhetoric from Tehran, signs that diplomatic engagement might continue helped calm oil markets, pushing benchmark prices below $100 on Tuesday.

The highest-level talks between the two adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in Islamabad without a breakthrough, raising doubts over the survival of a two-week ceasefire that still has a week to ⁠run. Among the slew of issues at stake were access to the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's nuclear programme and international sanctions on Tehran.

Since the United States and Israel began the war on February 28, Iran effectively shut the strait to nearly all vessels except its own, saying passage would be permitted only under Iranian control and subject to a fee. Nearly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies previously flowed through the narrow waterway, making the fallout from its closure widespread.

In a countermeasure, the U.S. military said it began blocking shipping traffic in and out of Iran's ports on ‌Monday. Tehran has threatened to hit naval ships going through the strait and to retaliate against its Gulf neighbours' ports.

U.S. Central Command said the blockade of Iranian ports, which only applies to ships going to or from Iran, involved more than 10,000 U.S. military personnel, more than a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft.

"During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with ‌direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman," CENTCOM said in a statement posted on ‌X.

Shipping data showed the blockade had made little difference to Strait of Hormuz traffic on Tuesday, with at least eight ships crossing the waterway.

The latest standoff has further clouded the outlook for global ‌energy security and the supply of goods that rely on petroleum.

The International Monetary ‌Fund cut its growth outlook and said the global economy would teeter on the brink of recession if the conflict worsens and oil stays above $100 per barrel into 2027. The International Energy Agency meanwhile slashed its forecasts for global oil supply and demand growth.

The United States' NATO allies ​including Britain and France said they would not be ‌drawn into the conflict by taking part in the blockade, although they ​have offered to help safeguard the strait by drawing together a defensive multilateral ⁠mission to assist when an agreement is in place.

China, the main buyer of Iranian oil, said the U.S. blockade was "dangerous and irresponsible" and would only aggravate tensions.