U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio once again expressed Washington’s opposition on Tuesday to Iran imposing transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, an issue that is causing friction in their negotiations, along with the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program and the terms for releasing frozen Iranian funds.

At the same time, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), part of the UN system, announced that it is implementing a plan for the urgent evacuation of some 11,000 seafarers who remain stranded in the Gulf.

It is a tangible sign that efforts are beginning to settle the armed conflict, which broke out on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli bombings in Iran and cost the lives of thousands of people, the vast majority of them in the Islamic Republic and Lebanon.

Last week, Tehran and Washington signed a “memorandum of understanding,” a preliminary agreement aimed at ending the war. It provided, among other things, for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) normally passes. Its de facto closure by Iran when the war broke out shook the global economy and sent oil prices soaring.

60-day deadline, which can be renewed if necessary.

However, the disagreements between the two sides remain enormous, starting with the Strait of Hormuz.

Arriving in Abu Dhabi at the start of a tour of Gulf states that will last until Thursday, allies of the United States that were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones during the war, Rubio insisted that Washington would not tolerate tolls or fees on the “international” waterway.

The team of Iranian negotiators, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, traveled to Oman to discuss, among other things, the management of the strait.

In a joint statement, Oman and Iran said they would examine the “costs” of services related to managing the strait, while stressing their “national sovereignty over their territorial waters.”

“If we did not have the missiles we possess to defend ourselves, Israel and the United States would have flattened Iran, as they did Gaza,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a visit to Islamabad, ruling out any possibility of negotiating over his country’s arsenal.

Regarding Iran’s nuclear energy program, Tehran stressed on Tuesday that it does not intend to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect key facilities that were bombed by Israel and the United States, contradicting U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Tehran had “fully and absolutely” accepted inspections “at the highest level.”

Doubts remain over the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles. Tehran has denied for decades that it wants to acquire nuclear weapons, but insists that it has the right to a full civilian nuclear energy program.

The round of negotiations that began over the weekend in Switzerland raised hopes that a lasting settlement of the conflict could indeed be reached and pushed down the price of North Sea Brent crude, which closed 1.05% lower at $77.08 a barrel, far from the $126 it had reached at the height of the war.

This is partly attributed to the gradual resumption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Kpler recorded 37 crossings by raw material vessels on Monday.

Under pressure to end a war that reduced Americans’ purchasing power, Washington made several conciliatory gestures toward Tehran.

Regarding oil, the Islamic Republic’s main resource, “all transactions” related to the production, sale and transport of hydrocarbons of Iranian origin “are authorized until August 21,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.

However, regarding the possible release of Iranian funds, the governor of Iran’s central bank on Tuesday denied Donald Trump’s statements that they must be used to purchase products “exclusively from the United States,” without ruling out some purchases of American goods.

The first $12 billion to be released will be used to purchase “essential goods and medicines,” Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said.

In a purely symbolic move, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday adopted a nonbinding resolution ordering the return of American forces deployed as part of the war against Iran.

This angered President Trump, who insisted that he has the Islamic Republic “on the ropes.”

“While I have Iran on the ‘ropes,’ ready to fall (...) the Senate decides to hold an untimely and meaningless vote on war powers,” the tycoon fumed on Truth Social.

On the Lebanon front, Israel’s first fire since Saturday in the southern part of the country killed two people on Tuesday, according to Lebanese authorities, while the Israeli army said it had targeted “armed terrorists.” Beirut said they were municipal employees carrying out works.

Hezbollah, a Shiite movement aligned with Iran, is accused of dragging Lebanon into the war in early March. Israel’s retaliatory operations, which imposed an occupation on part of southern Lebanon, killed more than 4,100 people in the country, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The movement on Tuesday denounced the “flagrant violation” of the cease-fire and demanded Israel’s full withdrawal from Lebanon according to a clear timetable.

Israeli army fire was recorded as the fifth round of direct negotiations began in Washington between the governments of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joseph Aoun, talks that Hezbollah has condemned.

Source: protothema.gr