US and Iran Agree to Stand Down, Vessels Free to Navigate Hormuz Strait

Iran and the United States have agreed to halt mutual strikes and allow ships to move freely through the Strait of Hormuz, a US official confirmed on Sunday. The decision pulls the two countries back from the brink of a wider conflict after one of the most intense periods of fighting since their war began in February.

'Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,' the official said, referring to the 14-point memorandum of understanding signed on 17 June under which the strait was to be reopened to shipping traffic, Reuters reported.

Talks are expected to resume on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, according to Axios, which first reported the stand-down. The agreement came after days of strikes and counterstrikes that damaged ships, struck US military installations in Gulf countries, and killed at least one person.

The latest round of hostilities began on Thursday when an Iranian projectile struck a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy shipping route. The US military responded with strikes on Iranian targets. Iran then launched a wave of missiles and drones at US military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain early on Sunday.

Kuwait said its air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties. In Bahrain, authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain subsequently called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable, according to Reuters.

A US official told Reuters there were no American casualties or major damage to US facilities across the region, though the situation was still developing at the time.

Qatar’s interior ministry confirmed that a Qatari national died after sustaining injuries from shrapnel aboard a vessel that had gone missing on Saturday. A second person was injured in the same incident, which the ministry attributed to military operations in the area without providing further details, CNN reported.

Shortly before the stand-down was announced, President Donald Trump issued a stark warning on social media, saying the United States might be forced to complete the job militarily if Iran did not honour the peace agreement. 'If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist,' he wrote, Reuters reported.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said countries in the region must not allow their territory or facilities to be used for attacks on Iran. He also said Washington bears direct responsibility for halting Israeli strikes on Lebanon, which have continued despite a US-brokered framework agreement signed between Israel, Lebanon and the United States on 26 June, CNN reported. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group exchanging fire with Israel in southern Lebanon, was not party to that agreement and has rejected it.

The 14-point interim peace accord was originally designed to halt fighting that the US and Israel began on 28 February and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while negotiations continued on Iran’s nuclear programme and other outstanding issues.

One round of mediated talks, led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland the previous week. Washington waived sanctions on Tehran at that point, but fighting resumed and intensified shortly afterwards, Reuters reported.