The US and Iran have made little headway towards brokering a peace deal, with US President Donald Trump saying that he was not yet satisfied on a deal with Iran and was not discussing easing sanctions on the country.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting at the White House on May 27, President Trump said Iran wanted to make a deal. But hopes of an imminent breakthrough were quashed when he urged representatives not to rush into an agreement.
“Iran is very much intent, they want very much to make a deal,” he said.
“So far, they haven’t gotten there… we’re not satisfied with it, but we will be. We will be either that, or we’ll have to just finish the job.”
On May 26, Iran said the US had violated a ceasefire by striking targets near the Strait of Hormuz, potentially complicating efforts to end the war, according to Reuters.
On the same day, Lebanon was also struck by a barrage of more than 120 air strikes from Israel in one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks — further constraining peace talks as Iran sought to end Israeli attacks on Lebanon as part of its deal with the US.
The crisis has led to a near halt in tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a plunge in crude and oil product flows from about 20mb/d before the war to a trickle at present, according to IEA data.
Though the US now appears intent on deescalating the conflict, it remains unclear when the strait will be reopened.
On May 27, at least two non-Iranian supertankers exited the Persian Gulf via the strait, the first time in more than a week that four million barrels of unsanctioned crude have been seen crossing the waterway, Bloomberg reported.
The Singapore-linked Eagle Veracruz and Greek-owned Nissos Keros were both seen having crossed Hormuz, carrying crude from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to Bloomberg.
The Hormuz crisis escalated in early May after the US Government said it was shifting from offensive operations against Iran to defensive actions in the Strait of Hormuz as multiple foreign vessels and oil terminals reportedly came under fire.
In early May, US President Donald Trump’s announced that the US was working to guide neutral ships stranded in the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz as part of Project Freedom.
The following day, President Trump announced that he would pause Project Freedom, citing requests from Pakistan and other countries, in an effort to finalise an agreement with Iran to end the war.
“The blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time,” he said in a social media post.
Before the pause, US military support in the region was expected to proliferate as US Central Command confirmed it will deploy guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms and 15,000 service members.
Speaking at the White House, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was now acting in a defensive operation.
“The goal here is pretty simple: establish a zone of transit that is protected by a bubble — the US, both naval and air assets — and then allow ships who want to move, to move through there and get to market, to begin to increase confidence in the ability to do so,” Secretary Rubio said.
According to US Central Command, US warships successfully accompanied two US-flagged vessels through the strait on May 4.
