A rare pause in hostilities between the United States and Iran has raised cautious hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough after weeks of military exchanges that pushed the Middle East to the brink of a wider conflict and rattled global energy markets.
For the second consecutive day, neither Washington nor Tehran launched fresh attacks, marking the first sustained lull since the latest escalation erupted nearly two weeks ago. The development immediately reverberated through international markets, with oil prices falling in early Asian trading on Monday as investors responded positively to signs that tensions around the strategic Strait of Hormuz could be easing.
The temporary calm also breathed new life into mediation efforts aimed at rescuing an interim ceasefire agreement that has been repeatedly undermined by missile strikes, naval confrontations and retaliatory attacks across the region.
Iran said it had halted retaliatory operations after US forces suspended their bombing campaign for two consecutive nights.
Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said the American strikes, which had continued for 13 straight nights, stopped on Friday, prompting Tehran to reciprocate.
“These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks. Since our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations,” he said
Iran also announced that it had suspended attacks on countries hosting American military forces in the Middle East, a move widely viewed as an attempt to create space for negotiations.
In Washington, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said President Donald Trump had deliberately slowed the military campaign to allow diplomacy a chance to succeed.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Waltz said US forces remained “locked and loaded” but that the President was giving negotiations “a little bit of room”.
He dismissed suggestions that the operational pause reflected dwindling US weapons stockpiles, insisting in a separate interview with NBC’s Meet the Press that American forces remained fully equipped to resume operations if required.
The suspension of attacks immediately calmed global energy markets, where investors have closely tracked developments amid fears that a prolonged conflict could disrupt crude exports from the Gulf.
In early Asian trading on Monday, Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell by $3.96, or 4.1 per cent, to $92.82 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined by $4.02, or 4.5 per cent, to $85.29 per barrel.
The sharp drop reversed part of last week’s rally, during which Brent prices briefly approached the $100-per-barrel mark as the conflict intensified.
Market analysts attributed the decline to growing confidence that the temporary suspension of hostilities could reduce the immediate risk of disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil supplies.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes, has remained at the centre of the confrontation, with commercial shipping increasingly affected by security concerns. Unconfirmed Iranian media reports suggested an oil tanker may have been damaged by a sea mine.
Security concerns have also spread to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Red Sea after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened to target Saudi shipping, raising fears that any renewed escalation could quickly send oil prices higher again.
The military pause has injected fresh momentum into diplomatic efforts to preserve an interim ceasefire signed by both countries in mid-June.
Although the agreement was intended to create a 60-day window for negotiations, little progress has been made on the central issue driving the crisis—Iran’s nuclear programme.
Instead, mediators have concentrated on preventing further military escalation while seeking practical arrangements to guarantee safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
A regional official involved in the negotiations described the absence of attacks as “a positive signal” that could help restore confidence between the two sides. According to the official, discussions are focusing on a compromise that would allow Iran to continue overseeing vessel movements while reducing restrictions on commercial shipping.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that discussions with Oman on maritime security remained active and had produced encouraging progress.
Despite the diplomatic opening, both countries have maintained a high level of military preparedness. The US military said its naval operations in the Gulf were continuing, adding that forces remained “highly vigilant, focused, lethal and ready”.
The conflict has already spread beyond direct US-Iran exchanges, with Tehran launching retaliatory attacks on countries hosting American military bases.
Attention is now turning to Tuesday’s White House meeting between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The talks are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and whether diplomacy can succeed where military pressure has struggled to deliver lasting results.
Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu said Israel would support any agreement that permanently ends Iran’s nuclear programme but insisted that the objective must be achieved “with a deal or without a deal.”
Trump also indicated that diplomatic contacts with Tehran were continuing.
“We’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious”, he told reporters on Friday.
The renewed confrontation between the United States and Iran has become the most dangerous episode in relations between the two countries in years, threatening to engulf the wider Middle East and disrupt the global economy.
The conflict escalated after the collapse of an earlier ceasefire, leading to nearly two weeks of sustained US airstrikes and Iranian retaliatory attacks targeting American interests, regional allies and critical shipping lanes.
At the heart of the dispute remains Iran’s nuclear programme. While Tehran insists its nuclear activities are intended solely for peaceful civilian purposes, Washington, Israel and their Western allies argue that the programme could ultimately lead to the development of nuclear weapons.
With oil markets closely watching developments and regional mediators working to keep both sides at the negotiating table, the current pause represents the most significant opportunity in weeks to prevent the conflict from escalating into a broader regional war.
