US and Iran agree to resume talks after weekend of strikes

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The U.S. and Iran agreed Sunday evening to halt attacks in the Gulf and restart negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of strikes threatened their less-than-two-week-old ceasefire.

Technical talks on the June 17 memorandum of understanding are expected to resume this week. Citing a U.S. official, Axios reported both sides had agreed to “stand down for now” and allow commercial vessels to move through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has not publicly confirmed the agreement.

The move to resume talks came after four days of renewed hostilities in the region, with Washington and Iran accusing one another of violating the June 17 ceasefire , which called for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts.”

After an Iranian projectile struck a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the U.S. military on Saturday said it had struck Iranian surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelaying capabilities. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones at U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait after fresh American strikes in southern Iran.

The exchange of strikes prompted new threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. In a Truth Social post Sunday, Trump warned that if Tehran abandoned the agreement, “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist” and said the United States was prepared to “militarily finish the job.” Iran, meanwhile, threatened to suspend negotiations altogether.

Washington has proposed this week’s talks take place in Doha. The discussions could begin as early as Tuesday and are expected to center around the use of the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest round of negotiations is meant to build on the high-level talks held in Switzerland earlier this month. During those discussions, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Iranian officials to hammer out the ground rules for future negotiations that are expected to delve into complex issues including Iran’s nuclear regime and U.S. sanctions .