Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Aug 3, 2026
Iran, in talks about reopening the Strait of Hormuz, casts doubt on Trump’s claims about a broader deal
by Aaron Boxerman and Sanam Mahoozi
Iran said on Monday that it was holding talks with Oman on temporarily reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the critical shipping lane in the Persian Gulf, as mediators rushed to tamp down the prospects of renewed war between the United States and Iran.
Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said at a news conference that there were no direct U.S.-Iran talks at the moment, suggesting that a broader peace deal was not in the offing for now. Instead, he said, the talks with Oman were narrowly focused on negotiating a new route for ships to traverse the strait.
“The focus of the negotiations with Oman will be on this issue, while the matters relating to Iran and the United States will have to be examined in later stages,” Mr. Baghaei said.
President Trump lashed out at Iran’s government on Monday, calling its leaders “unbelievably duplicitous” and suggesting that the United States and Iran were, in fact, discussing a solution to resolve the problems in the Strait of Hormuz.
If the talks are successful, they could pave the way for the United States and Iran to return to a broader cease-fire after an earlier deal collapsed in July amid tensions over the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr. Trump abruptly canceled a threatened assault on Iran over the weekend, saying there could be progress in reopening the strait, a major waterway for global energy exports blockaded by Iran for months now. He also cited pleas for calm by regional allies like Saudi Arabia.
“The reason they asked is they think there’s a deal on Hormuz,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly pledged that diplomatic breakthroughs with Iran are at hand in recent months, only for them to fall through. Iran has not shifted its position despite repeated American bombardments, leaving Mr. Trump wrestling with how to end the war he began in February jointly with Israel.
Iran and Oman have exchanged maps of possible passages for ships as part of the talks, Mr. Baghaei said on Monday. One of the options under consideration was a possible “intermediate route” between the two countries that “safeguards the considerations and interests” of both countries, he added.
Analysts are skeptical that Iran will totally release its grip over the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, vessels moved freely through the waterway. Since the United States and Israel launched their attack in late February, the Iranian blockade has become a powerful source of leverage for Tehran in its dealings with Washington.
Mr. Baghaei suggested that Iran was unlikely to fully reopen the strait if other sticking points between the Trump administration and the Iranian government remained unresolved, such as a U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports.
“So long as all the matters that the United States has violated during this period remain unresolved, naturally no significant change will occur in the situation of the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters.
In June, the two countries signed a cease-fire that was supposed to reopen the strait and allow for broader talks to curb Iran’s nuclear program — one of Mr. Trump’s justifications for launching the war. The truce quickly collapsed after Iran fired on commercial ships passing near Oman that Iranian authorities deemed unauthorized.
The deadlock stemmed, in part, from the vague wording that the Trump administration had agreed to in the cease-fire deal. Iran argued that the agreement gave it sweeping authority over the Strait of Hormuz, an interpretation disputed by U.S. officials.
Middle East
Aug. 3, 2026, 11:59 a.m. ET1 hour ago
President Trump pushed back against Iran’s claims that it was negotiating with Oman — and not the United States — over a temporary reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as talks to end the war resume. In a social media post on Monday, Trump blasted Iranian leaders as “unbelievably duplicitous” and said the country was continually seeking to talk with the United States behind closed doors only to publicly deny it.
“Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades,” Trump wrote. “It is very simple, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”
Aug. 3, 2026, 10:50 a.m. ET2 hours ago
President Trump is frustrated with the U.S. oil industry, taking Chevron’s chief executive to task on social media this morning for not crediting him for helping drive second-quarter earnings to multiyear highs. At the same time, Trump voiced concern about prices at the pump, which, at an average of $4.10 a gallon, are up roughly 37 percent from prewar levels.
A president’s influence over oil prices is often overstated, but not in this instance, as the U.S. war with Iran has caused both oil and gasoline prices to soar. That cuts both ways, though: The same foreign policy decisions that drove corporate profits higher are eating into consumers’ wallets.
Aug. 3, 2026, 10:06 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Oil prices plummeted on Monday after President Trump said Sunday on social media that the “perimeters of a deal” were being worked out to open the Strait of Hormuz, followed by an announcement by Iran on Monday that it was meeting with Oman to discuss temporarily reopening the strait.
The respite is “meaningful but provisional,” a BNY analyst wrote in a research note. “Tehran has yet to endorse the reported framework publicly, leaving markets alert to another reversal.”