President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the ceasefire with Iran is over, while simultaneously confirming that Washington has agreed to Tehran’s request to continue negotiations. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that “the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” but added that the Islamic Republic had asked to keep talking and “we have agreed to do so.” The statement followed the most intense two-day exchange of fire since a memorandum of understanding was signed on 17 June, with US forces striking roughly 170 Iranian military targets and Iran retaliating against American bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan.

Viewed from Washington, the dual message reflects an effort to sustain military pressure while preserving a diplomatic track. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the ongoing discussions as technical in nature and said the administration remains committed to reaching a permanent peace agreement by mid-August. The Pentagon said its strikes were aimed at degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, after what US Central Command called Iranian attacks on three tankers earlier in the week. The Treasury Department also revoked a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iran to sell oil internationally, a key concession under the interim deal.

Iranian officials have not publicly confirmed the request for talks cited by Trump. Instead, Tehran has insisted that the strait will reopen only under Iranian arrangements, with parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stating that “Hormuz opens only with Iranian agreements, not US threats.” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council warned that any attack on infrastructure would be met with a reciprocal response and that Israel would not be immune. Iranian state media reported that US strikes killed at least 14 people and damaged civilian infrastructure, including bridges and a railway line, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have struck US Patriot systems in Kuwait, an early-warning site in Qatar and a fuel depot in Bahrain.

Qatari mediators, who helped broker the June memorandum, dispatched a delegation to Iran on Friday to meet Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in the city of Mashhad. According to a source familiar with the talks, the discussions focused on implementing the US-Iran memorandum and resolving disputes over navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran wants vessels to use a coastal route under its authority and has signalled it may impose fees, while Washington backs an alternative corridor along Oman’s coast. The UN shipping agency’s governing council condemned Iran’s attempt to impose sovereignty over the waterway. Daily tanker transits through the strait fell to 22 on 9 July, down from a post-ceasefire peak of 40 and far below the pre-war average of 125 to 140, and oil prices were on track for a weekly gain of 5 percent. Technical negotiations are expected to resume next week, possibly in Switzerland, but the trust deficit remains acute and the stance of Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since succeeding his father, is still unknown.