By Trevor Hunnicutt and Ariba Shahid
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, April 18 (Reuters) – A convoy of oil tankers was crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the first major movement of ships in the crucial waterway since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran seven weeks ago.
The group of four liquefied petroleum gas carriers and several oil product and chemical tankers, was passing through Iranian waters south of Larak Island with more tankers following from the Gulf, according to MarineTraffic data.
U.S. President Donald Trump hours earlier had cited “some pretty good news” about Iran, declining to elaborate. He also said fighting might resume without a peace deal by Wednesday.
Iran reopened the strait, which before the war carried a fifth of the world’s oil trade, following a separate U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement on Thursday by Israel and Lebanon.
UNCLEAR IF ANY DIRECT TALKS THIS WEEKEND
The war with Iran, which began on February 28 with a U.S.-Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic, has killed thousands, spread to Israeli attacks in Lebanon and sent oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait.
Despite the progress on opening the strait, prospects remained unclear on a resumption of high-level U.S.-Iran talks or any agreement over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a key sticking point.
“It seems to be going very well in the Middle East with Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One while returning to Washington from Phoenix, Arizona. “We’re negotiating over the weekend. I expect things to go well. Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.
“The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and that supersedes everything else.”
But in sharp contrast, he said he might end the ceasefire with Iran unless a long-term deal to end the war is agreed before it expires on Wednesday, adding that a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would continue.
Pressure for a way out of the war has mounted as Trump’s fellow Republicans defend narrow majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections with U.S. gasoline prices high, inflation rising and his own approval ratings down.
Trump has told Reuters there would probably be more direct talks between Iran and the U.S. this weekend. Some diplomats said that was unlikely given the logistics of gathering in Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.
There were no signs of preparations early on Saturday for talks in the Pakistani capital, where the highest-level U.S.-Iran negotiations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended without agreement last weekend.
The key Pakistani mediator, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, has concluded three days of talks in Tehran, the Pakistani military said on Saturday. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also returning to Islamabad after talks this week in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
A Pakistani source aware of mediation efforts said a meeting between Iran and the U.S. could produce an initial memorandum of understanding, followed by a comprehensive peace agreement within 60 days.
Among complicating factors, Iran’s speaker of parliament and senior negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, posted on social media that the Strait of Hormuz “will not remain open” if the U.S. blockade continued.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had announced on social media that the strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the 10-day truce that was agreed on Thursday by Israel and Lebanon, which was invaded by Israel after the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group joined the fighting.
Iran has said all ships crossing the strait must coordinate with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was not the case before the war. The Defense Ministry said in a statement quoted by state television that military vessels and ships linked to “hostile forces” – the U.S. and Israel – were still not permitted to pass.
NO CLARITY ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Differences remained over Tehran’s nuclear program, which has been a key sticking point in peace talks, with Iran defending its right to what it says is a civilian nuclear energy program.
Trump told Reuters the U.S. would remove Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told state TV the material would not be transferred anywhere.
Separately, a senior Iranian official said Tehran hoped a preliminary agreement could be reached in the coming days.
Oil prices fell about 10% and global stocks jumped on Friday on the prospect of marine traffic resuming through the strait.
After a video conference on Friday, more than a dozen countries said they were willing to join an international mission to protect shipping in the strait when conditions permit, Britain said.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters there had been an agreement on unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets as part of the accord, without giving a timeline. Later on Friday, Trump, who has repeatedly referred to a peace agreement as a “deal” or “transaction,” told a rally in Arizona that “no money will exchange hands in any way, shape or form.”
At last weekend’s talks, the U.S. proposed a 20-year suspension of all Iranian nuclear activity, while Iran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.
Two Iranian sources have said there were signs of a compromise that could remove part of the stockpile.
Trump told Reuters the U.S. might not act quickly. “We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery,” he said in a phone interview. “We’ll bring it back to the United States.”
Despite Trump’s optimism, Iranian sources told Reuters that “gaps remained to be resolved” before a preliminary agreement, while senior clerics struck a defiant tone during Friday prayers.
“Our people do not negotiate while being humiliated,” cleric Ahmad Khatami said.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by William Mallard)
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