US and Iran agree to pause strikes and resume talks in Doha

The United States and Iran agreed to stand down for now after exchanging fire, with technical talks set for Tuesday in Doha over the Strait of Hormuz. The pause came after a third straight day of military action tested the ceasefire and strained shipping through the waterway that handles about 20% of the world’s oil traffic.

The truce was barely 11 days old when it came under new pressure from renewed strikes and from President Donald Trump’s threat to restart the war and “complete the job.” A senior U.S. official said the latest Iranian drones and missiles did not hit their intended targets, but the exchange was enough to keep the agreement on edge and force both sides back to the table. The sides also agreed to keep working through their memorandum of understanding, including technical talks on all areas of the deal.

Commercial vessels have begun moving more freely again through the strait, but the recovery remains fragile after the weekend clashes. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow maritime chokepoint at the center of the fight, and every interruption there has carried immediate risk for global oil flows and shipping confidence.

Iran has continued to insist on its right to control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and has warned Gulf states not to side with Washington. That stance has widened the stakes beyond a bilateral military exchange and turned the waterway into a test of regional alignment as much as a test of the ceasefire itself. Since the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, the war has reshaped the Middle East in real time, with the Hormuz dispute becoming the clearest point of pressure.

The Doha meeting is now the next marker for whether the pause becomes a durable de-escalation or only a temporary lull before the next round of strikes. What happens to shipping through Hormuz, and whether the technical talks can lock in the memorandum of understanding, will show whether the agreement is holding or slipping back toward conflict.