Iran undecided on resuming talks with US
Theo Al Jazeera Staff
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran has not decided to resume talks with the US, citing unresolved disagreements over ceasefire violations and the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Washington appears to be shifting to economic pressure after military efforts failed to achieve its objectives.
Iran has not yet decided to resume negotiations with the United States to end the war, as the two sides remain at odds over ceasefire violations and the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have not made a decision to resume talks with the US,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on Telegram on August 16, reiterating his earlier remarks to the Shahrara News agency.
According to Araghchi, mediators from Qatar and Pakistan are exchanging messages and communicating with Iran, “but that does not mean negotiations.”
Iran’s top diplomat blamed the US for the resurgence of violence after the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in Pakistan in June, and suggested that a new path must be charted to exit the conflict.
He said Iran is coordinating with Oman on technical procedures to establish new shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, but passage of vessels depends on a political solution.
“The routes that existed before are no longer operational, and new ones need to be identified. We are currently designing a temporary route that will become the official one in subsequent phases,” the Iranian diplomat said.
He stressed that “whether traffic through the Strait of Hormuz resumes depends on meeting other conditions that the US must comply with.”
Araghchi’s remarks came on the same day US President Donald Trump declared: “After we defeat Iran… I will declare the Strait of Hormuz to be US territory.”
In response, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “the Strait of Hormuz has been Iran’s, is Iran’s, and will forever remain Iran’s.”
As the two sides trade statements, control of the strategic waterway remains contested. On August 15, the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) reported that one of its vessels was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the latest in a series of similar incidents over recent weeks.
US shifts to economic pressure
After six months of fighting that failed to achieve the goal of toppling Iran’s leadership or reopening the Strait of Hormuz—targets set by Washington and Israel—the US appears to be pivoting toward economic pressure.
On August 15, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would soon impose new economic measures to pressure Iran. “It will be a combination of unprecedented economic isolation and continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to prevent anything from entering or leaving Iran’s ports,” he told Newsmax.
In August, the US announced steps to dismantle networks of money changers and shell companies that Washington says have helped Iran secretly move hundreds of millions of dollars through the international financial system. “Iran’s shadow banking system is buckling under economic pressure, and the regime is running out of ways to move money,” Bessent said when unveiling the sanctions.
This strategy is not new: Iran has faced an ever-tightening web of economic sanctions from the US and other nations since the 1979 revolution. Economic hardships have repeatedly triggered protests that severely destabilized the country, but none have ever toppled the regime.
Marc Ginsberg, a former US ambassador and Middle East policy adviser at the White House, told Al Jazeera that while the US has long used maximum-pressure tactics, the current situation is different and the White House lacks a clear strategy to resolve the impasse.
“This is like an economic game of chicken. Which side will swerve off the road before a collision? I think eventually the administration will cave to the Iranian government,” he said.
