CAIRO (AP) — Iran and Oman are inching toward a deal to reopen the disputed Strait of Hormuz and potentially help bring an end to the war.
The emerging agreement calls for ships to enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through a route controlled by Oman, two regional officials told The Associated Press.
Any deal, though, appears contingent on the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran’s ports. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration
has previously ruled out any deal that would give Iran control over the strait.
Elsewhere, a mass funeral was held in Gaza City for more than 100 people killed in an Israeli strike early in the conflict. A memorial service was also held in Beirut for victims of a 2020 port explosion, and Yemen’s Houthis claimed they fired at a Saudi Arabian airport.
Here is a look at the most important developments in the Middle East on Tuesday.
Senior U.S. officials struck an optimistic tone on Tuesday, suggesting a deal to reopen the strait could be reached soon.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed there has been progress made in talks between Iran and Oman, “but not finality yet.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that “there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict.”
The Strait of Hormuz is the crucial waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passed before the war. It has been effectively shut by Iran’s attacks on shipping since the start of the war in February.
A cargo ship reported being “hit by an unknown projectile” while traversing the Strait of Hormuz, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center.
The center said the reported strike damaged the vessel at around 2 a.m. local time while it was about 37 kilometers (23 miles) northeast of Al Khasab, a port city in Oman that juts into the strait.
It's unclear what flag the ship was sailing under or whether it was carrying cargo, but the British maritime security firm Ambrey said the ship sustained damage.
Hundreds of people gathered as the bodies wrapped in Palestinian flags were laid in rows near the destroyed buildings before being carried on stretchers through a narrow street for burial in a nearby cemetery.
The 112 victims were among more than 300 killed during an attack on Nov. 22, 2023, on Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood.
First responders recovered the bodies, including 40 children and 30 women, over the weekend, according to the Civil Defense, a rescue agency operated under Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
The Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has since killed 73,375 people, including civilians and combatants, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Around 7,400 people are still missing and presumed buried under the rubble from the war, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.
In Yemen, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, said a drone hit a “sensitive target” at the airport in the southwestern city of Najran, without providing evidence. He said the attack was in response to what he described as Saudi breaching of Yemen’s airspace over the provinces of Saada and Hajjah. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis recently announced a blockade on Saudi-linked shipping passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that leads to the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia led an international coalition and imposed an air and sea blockade against the rebels after they seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen in a civil war that began in 2014. Major fighting ended in a truce in 2022.
Families of the more than 200 people killed in the massive explosion at the port in Beirut in 2020 gathered at the blast site to mark six years since tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded, devastating large parts of the Lebanese capital.
No one has been convicted in a long-stalled judicial investigation into the incident, but some families expressed renewed hope after government officials promised indictments would be issued by the end of the year.
The tragedy has been overshadowed by recent events, including two wars between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and an Israeli military occupation of much of the country’s south.
Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Rome on Tuesday to continue talks on implementing a U.S.-mediated deal in which the Israeli military would gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon while the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group would be disarmed.
A State Department spokesperson said on X that the U.S. “remains fully committed to supporting both governments as they carry this process forward in a manner that delivers lasting security for both countries, eliminates security threats to Israel, and restores Lebanese state authority throughout the south.”
Implementation of the June 26 agreement began last month with an initial “pilot zone” in an area that wasn't occupied by Israeli forces but had previously sustained Israeli fire.
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa suggested ahead of the three-day talks that no new pilot zones would be immediately implemented, saying that “moving too quickly risks jeopardizing the very civilians this process is meant to protect.”
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Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, Matthew Lee in Washington and Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.
