Iran offers to end chokehold on Strait of Hormuz if nuclear talks are deferred, officials say

iranian language sources on mon disclosed Tehran's modish proposition to bridge over gaps with the U.S. Over worldwide shipping woes resulting from the war started two months earlier, which would push wider talks about Iran's nuclear program until later.

That suggestion is unlikely to satisfy Washington, which says nuclear issues must be resolved from the outset. Although a ceasefire has paused the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Feb. 28, no agreement has been reached on terms to end a war that has killed thousands, driven up oil prices, fuelled inflation and darkened the outlook for global growth.

U.S. President Donald Trump called off a trip to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, by his envoys Steve Witfkoff and Jared Kushner over the weekend for talks with Iran mediated by Pakistan, and said Iran should phone when it wants a deal.

"They know ​what has to be in the agreement. It's very simple: They cannot have a nuclear weapon; otherwise, there's no reason to meet," Trump told Fox News on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, due to attend those Pakistan talks, arrived on Monday in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin, a ​longstanding ally.

Senior Iranian sources, speaking on condition of ⁠anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Araqchi to Islamabad over the weekend envisioned talks in stages.

A first step would ‌require ending the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and providing guarantees that Washington cannot start it up again. Then negotiators would resolve the U.S. Blockade and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control.

Only then would talks look at other issues, including a longstanding dispute over Iran's nuclear program, with Iran still seeking some kind of U.S. Acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful purposes.

In a sign that no face-to-face meetings are planned any time soon, streets reopened in Islamabad ⁠which had been locked down for a week in anticipation of talks that never took place. The luxury hotel that had been cleared out to serve as a venue was again taking reservations from the public.

Pakistani officials said negotiations were still taking place remotely, but there were no plans to convene a meeting in person until the sides were close enough to sign a memorandum.

Iran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began. This month, the United States began blockading Iranian ships, which Iran says must be halted as a condition for talks.

At least seven ships have crossed the Strait of ‌Hormuz in the past 24 hours, in line with muted activity in recent days, shipping data showed on Monday.

The vessels included ships leaving from Iraqi ports and ​one dry bulk vessel from an Iranian ⁠port, according ⁠to ship tracking data ‌from Kpler and separate satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.

Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to ⁠the Gulf during the uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the ‌average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began.

The U.S. Central Command has redirected 37 vessels since a blockade ​was imposed on Iran on April 13, the ⁠military said on Saturday.

Iran says it will not hold talks on the wider conflict unless a ceasefire also holds in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which fired across the border in support of Tehran.

Fighting has intensified in Lebanon, where Israeli strikes killed 14 people and wounded 37 in the south on Sunday, according ​to the Health Ministry, making it the deadliest day since a ⁠U.S.-brokered ceasefire was agreed in mid-April.

Israel and Hezbollah blame each other for violating the truce, which was agreed between Israel and the Lebanese government in Washington and extended last week.

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Israeli forces have ordered hundreds of thousands of people out of their villages and have been bulldozing homes where they say Hezbollah fighters operated. The military warned residents on Sunday to leave seven more towns beyond the occupied buffer zone.

Reuters journalists on a vantage point across the border in northern Israel filmed ⁠columns of smoke rising into the sky above southern Lebanon and ‌the constant sound of explosions.

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