New attacks on shipping as Iran war talks hit fresh impasse

The US and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping on Tuesday as prospects for ending the months-old Iran ​war appeared to dim, with Tehran saying the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless Washington accepts its conditions.

The attacks, in the Gulf ‌of Oman leading to the strait and at the entrance to the Red Sea – both vital choke points for global oil supplies, come as the war shows no signs of ending despite Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif saying on Tuesday that the US and Iran are close to an agreement that could ensure lasting peace in the region.

Oil prices gained and global shares retreated amid renewed pessimism about a quick end to the conflict. Brent crude futures climbed 1.4% to settle at $88.91 per ​barrel and US crude rose 1.3% to $83.20.

The attacks

At the southern end of the Red Sea, four crew members were killed in a suspected Houthi attack on a small ​cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, Yemen's Transport Ministry said. Two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed, Yemen's Coast Guard said.

The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would be the first deaths on shipping by Houthis since the Iran war began.

The Houthi-run ​news agency Saba reported that the group, which said last month it would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, attacked a Saudi ship carrying military ​equipment in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It did not name the ship, and there was no immediate Saudi response to the report.

The US military, meanwhile, said a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship.

The ship ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports, the US Central Command said.

Stepped up rhetoric

Both Iran and the United States have stepped up rhetoric in the past two days.

Iran's top ​security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route will remain closed unless the US accepts Iran's conditions to end the war – the release of Iran's frozen assets and ‌an end to conflicts throughout the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza.

"As long as America does not ​change its behavior and does not accept Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened," Rezaei said, according to the ​semi-official Tasnim news agency.

That followed a new demand from Trump on Monday that Iran should pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests.

Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent.

In an interview released late on Monday, he suggested the uncertainty could last for a while, saying he might just "bop along" and let Tehran fail economically, or hit them "really, really hard."

"I'm sort of negotiating," Trump told Real America's Voice.

The comments from Rezaei were the strongest indication the Strait of Hormuz would not reopen to shipping anytime soon.

There was no immediate comment from Washington on Iran's latest comments.

Uncertain future

Raising the prospect of further escalation, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, an adviser to the commander ​of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said on Iranian state TV on Tuesday that the corps was developing the ​ability to carry out operations "on enemy soil."

"We need to be able to move the operations to the enemy's soil, whenever this is needed and ordered," he said. "This is the characteristic of the offensive doctrine that has ​to be attained."

Despite the threats and tit-for-tat strikes, the 60-day window established by the 14-point US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding sets to reach its formal expiration deadline on August 18.

Su Xiaohui, an expert at the China Institute of International Studies, noted neither the US nor Iran is willing to restart a full-scale war and both hope to seek greater room for maneuver as far as the respective demands and current situations of the US and Iran are concerned.

Su said although a comprehensive solution remains relatively difficult, continuing the negotiation process is in the best interests of both the US and Iran, therefore, there is still room for them to reach a temporary agreement.

(With input from agencies)