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The United States and Iran reached a new understanding this Sunday to put an end to the mutual bombings of recent days and to hold a diplomatic meeting in Qatar over the course of this week, according to the American portal Axios in its Sunday edition.
The agreement comes just two days after both parties accused each other of violating the memorandum of understanding signed on June 17, which had ended more than 100 days of open conflict.
According to Axios, the understanding includes not only a pause in the attacks but also the assurance that ships will be able to continue transiting "freely" through the Strait of Hormuz while diplomatic conversations resume.
The new escalation that led to this agreement began on Friday when Donald Trump accused Iran of launching "at least four one-way attack drones against ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz," describing it as a "foolhardy" violation of the ceasefire.
Among the targets of those Iranian attacks was the tanker M/T Kiku, flying the Panamanian flag, which was carrying over 2 million barrels of crude oil when it was struck by a suicide drone.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) responded with precision airstrikes against Iranian military installations, including surveillance, communications, air defense, drone storage, and naval mining capabilities.
Iran, in turn, accused Washington of violating the memorandum and justified its attacks on U.S. targets in Kuwait and Bahrain as an act of "self-defense."
On Saturday, Trump dramatically raised the tone of his warnings by posting on Truth Social: "There may come a time when we can no longer be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the job we started so successfully. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist!"
The memorandum of understanding dated June 17, ratified in person on June 19 in Switzerland by Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Chancellor Abbas Araghchi, established a 60-day ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's commitment not to develop nuclear weapons.
However, the agreement left eight critical unresolved points, including the duration of the moratorium on uranium enrichment: Washington demands 20 years, while Tehran proposes between five and 15.
The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, had warned Trump that Iran would not uphold its nuclear commitments, a sign of the fragility of the process from the very beginning.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of the world's oil passes, has become the main battleground of this crisis, and the meeting scheduled in Qatar this week will be a test of whether the fragile peace process can hold.
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