US says Iran technical talks to continue despite recent flare up and exchange of strikes

Technical talks between the US and Iran are continuing, according to a US official, following two days of clashes that threatened to shatter an already fragile ceasefire between the two nations.

The US is still committed to finding a solution with Iran, the official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

The comments are likely to ease fears of a return to all-out war after the US launched fresh strikes on Iranian targets in retaliation for what it said were attacks by Tehran on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran hit back at US bases in the region the last two nights.

Amid the new violence, Trump on Wednesday suggested the ceasefire was “over,” but also said he would not prevent negotiations from going ahead. Talks between the US and Iran have been put off this week as the Islamic Republic held days of funeral rites for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli military campaign.

The flareup and the US Treasury’s decision to revoke a waiver allowing the sale of Iranian oil globally marked the biggest challenge to an interim peace deal. The heightened tensions slowed transit through the strait. Oil jumped earlier in the week before steadying as traders reassessed the risk to energy flows through Hormuz.

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The interim peace deal signed by the US and Iran opened 60 days for talks to establish a broader peace accord. It was also supposed to reopen the strait, which had been largely closed because of the war.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the truce, with Washington accusing Tehran of attacking vessels and Iran claiming the US is interfering with its control of the waterway. Oil prices have jumped this week but remain far short of peaks hit in March.

The US official cast Iran’s attacks on vessels in the strait as acts of terrorism and Iran’s actions as failing to meet the memorandum of understanding’s performance-based conditions.

Talks have also failed to make significant progress on issues such as tolls on shipping traffic through Hormuz, the status of frozen Iranian assets and Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.