Iran renews Hormuz threats as Doha talks end with cautious progress

Tehran threatened a "forceful response" against vessels straying from its approved Hormuz routes, even as mediators said indirect US-Iran talks in Doha concluded with "positive progress". The next round of talks will wait until after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral, which begins on Saturday. Iran's joint military command warned Thursday that vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a "forceful response," ratcheting up further tensions over a waterway crucial to international trade. The strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has emerged as one of the top issues in negotiations to reach a permanent end to the Iran war. The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, reported by Iranian state-run television, comes after both US and Iranian diplomats met with mediators in Qatar on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) had put out a statement about having a meeting with officials from the region in Bahrain that said "leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz." That appears to have been the phrase to anger Iran, which is preparing for the funeral that begins this weekend for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in the war's opening salvo in February. "Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route, or disregard for the navigation protocols of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and forceful response from the armed forces, endangering the security of the violating vessels," the Iranian joint military command said. It also said the continued presence of US fighter jets over the strait "causes insecurity in this waterway and threatens regional security." "Any attempt by the United States to interfere in security matters or any disruptive action in the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a threat to Iran's national sovereignty and will be met with a rapid and decisive reaction," the Iranian warning added. Iran and the US agreed as part of a framework deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days. Yet Tehran insisted it must control the vessels' routes and later charge passage fees, upending decades of practice in the waterway. The US and many Gulf states say they would not agree to the charges. An effort by Oman and a UN agency to launch a new route near Oman's shore sparked attacks across the Middle East last weekend, raising the stakes amid the latest attempts at finding common ground to permanently end the war. The latest flare-up came when US Central Command said over the weekend that it had attacked 10 Iranian military targets over "continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping". Iran said it retaliated with strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, which both condemned Tehran. However, the exchanges of fire appear to have calmed in the days leading up to this week's talks in Qatar. Doha talks done Iran and the US concluded a round of indirect talks in Doha, mediators said Thursday, as efforts continued to advance negotiations and lower tensions between the two sides. US President Donald Trump as well as mediators Qatar and Pakistan have since offered signs that diplomacy was holding. "Qatari and Pakistani mediators concluded separate meetings with the US and Iranian negotiators in Doha (Wednesday), with positive progress made," the two mediating nations said in a statement on Thursday. At the talks' conclusion, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who led Tehran's delegation, said an agreement had been reached to establish a communications channel by Thursday to report and record alleged violations of the memorandum. Gharibabadi said discussions also covered frozen Iranian assets, whose release Tehran has demanded as part of any settlement. He said officials reviewed the use of part of an initial $6 billion and agreed that goods needed by Iran would be purchased and made available. "As far as things are going, the denuclearisation of Iran is moving along well," Trump told reporters Wednesday before boarding Air Force One. In June, Washington and Tehran agreed a memorandum of understanding, brokered by Qatar and Pakistan, which included a 60-day ceasefire pausing the war that broke out with US-Israeli strikes in late February, as well as the reopening of the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. But the 14-point deal also set a timeline for talks to permanently end the war and settle issues like arrangements for Hormuz, reconstruction funding for Iran and the future of the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme. A source familiar with the matter told AFP on condition of anonymity that indirect negotiations in Doha had focused more specifically on arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, with the nuclear issue slated for deeper discussion in later rounds of talks. Ayatollah's funeral first The next indirect US-Iran talks will come after the late Iranian ayatollah's funeral. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed aged 86 at his compound in the centre of the Iranian capital on 28 February, the first day of the war. Power was swiftly passed to his son Mojtaba Khamenei. Ali Khamenei's public funeral will begin on Saturday, with his body lying in state at the colossal complex in central Tehran that hosts major Friday prayers, official ceremonies and religious gatherings. Qatar and Pakistan said in statements that the sides agreed to keep talking, "with the next meeting to be set at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions". His burial will take place on 9 July at the shrine of Imam Reza in the northeastern city of Mashhad, his birthplace and Iran's holiest city. It remains unclear whether Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the death of his father, will attend the funeral at any stage of the event. Since his appointment, the younger Khamenei has released written messages to the nation, read on state-run television. Earlier, US media outlets reported that he was seriously injured, with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth describing him as "disfigured". Tehran has not officially commented on these claims. Lebanon waiting on Israeli withdrawal On the Lebanon front, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been relatively quiet, although the National News Agency reported a strike in the country's southern city of Nabatieh on Wednesday evening, without mentioning any victims. Lebanon is still waiting for Israel to start withdrawing from "pilot zones" where the Lebanese army would deploy, as per a framework agreement between the two countries. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the Israeli army would remain "until further notice" in what it describes as "security zones" in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun defended on Thursday negotiations with Israel, saying they were not a betrayal and he would not surrender "a single inch of Lebanon's territory", according to the presidency. The latest war erupted on 2 March when Hezbollah — the strongest militant group among Iran's Axis of Resistance network of proxies that also includes Yemen's Houthis, Hamas in Gaza and militias in Iraq — launched missiles at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed the elder Khamenei. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that have resulted in the deaths of more than 4,200 people in Lebanon, according to the authorities. Tehran has insisted any permanent peace deal with the US should include an end to the parallel war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, part of which they have occupied.