US, Iran Halt Strikes Ahead of Tuesday Talks

The United States and Iran have agreed to halt military attacks as they prepare for talks Tuesday in Qatar aimed at resolving their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported Sunday, citing a senior U.S. official.

"We decided to stop all the kinetic activity," the official said, using the military term for strikes and other attacks.

The talks were originally expected to take place Tuesday in Switzerland and focus on Iran's nuclear program, but the recent escalation shifted the meeting to Qatar and refocused it on the Strait of Hormuz.

Nick Stewart, who heads the U.S. technical team, is expected to take part in the talks.

The diplomatic push came after Iran skipped technical talks with the United States scheduled for Sunday, citing recent attacks on Iranian targets and what Tehran described as unfulfilled terms of its memorandum of understanding with Washington, Reuters reported.

Mehdi Fazaeli, a member of the Office of Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran's Supreme Leader, told Iranian state TV that Iran did not participate because it was still reviewing whether the U.S. had met its obligations under the MOU.

"For example one of the reasons is checking if we have access to the unfrozen funds, if there is no access then this condition has not been fulfilled," Fazaeli said.

A senior U.S. official offered a different account, telling The New York Times that technical talks on implementing the MOU are still expected in the coming days.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing diplomacy, said no talks had been canceled and that the two sides continued to exchange messages through deconfliction channels despite recent U.S. and Iranian strikes.

The conflicting accounts underscored the fragile state of the interim agreement, which was intended to create a 60-day window for Washington and Tehran to work toward a broader deal while reducing military tensions.

Iran has accused the United States of failing to meet conditions tied to the release of frozen assets, while Washington has blamed Tehran for continued attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

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