Tanker crosses Strait of Hormuz as U.S. waits for Iran’s response to peace proposal

Iran has sent its response to a U.S. proposal to begin peace talks to end the war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, as two carriers were allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

The response, sent to mediator Pakistan, focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, and on the safety of shipping through the strait, Iranian state TV said, without indicating how or when the vital waterway might reopen.

A Pakistani government official involved in the talks said Pakistan received Iran’s response and sent it to the U.S. The source did not provide further details about the proposal.

Michael Waltz, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, said the Trump administration had not yet received Iran’s response, noting that part of the difficulty in negotiating with Tehran stems from the country’s leadership.

“We know that Mojtaba [Khamenei]the new Ayatollah, the previous Ayatollah’s son, has been severely injured. He’s in hiding. He’s incredibly difficult to get a hold of, yet the IRGC is still deferential to some degree, so that is making the negotiations go longer and slower, I think, than anyone would like,” he said Sunday in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.”

“But at the same time, those negotiations and that diplomacy is ongoing,” he said. “So we’ll see what they come back with.”

After some 48 hours of relative calm following sporadic clashes last week, hostile drones were detected over several Gulf countries on Sunday, underlining the threat still facing the region despite a month-old ceasefire.

A Qatari natural gas tanker crossed the strait on Sunday for the first time since the start of the Iran war, heading for Pakistan, while Washington continued to wait for Tehran’s response to its latest proposals to begin peace talks.

After some 48 hours of relative calm following sporadic clashes last week that have shaken a month-old ceasefire, Kuwait detected several hostile drones in its airspace early on Sunday, authorities said.

But the QatarEnergy-operated carrier Al Kharaitiyat passed safely through the strait and was heading for Pakistan’s Port Qasim, according to data from the shipping analytics firm Kpler, making it the first Qatari vessel carrying liquefied natural gas to cross the strait since the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb 28.

Sources said earlier that the transfer, which offered a modicum of relief to Pakistan after a wave of power blackouts caused by a halt to vital gas imports, had been approved by Iran to build confidence with Qatar and Pakistan, both mediators in the war.

In addition, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier bound for Brazil that had previously attempted to transit the strait on May 4, passed through, using a route designated by Iran’s armed forces, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

With U.S. President Donald Trump due to visit China this week, there has been mounting pressure to draw a line under the war, which has ignited a global energy crisis and poses a growing threat to the world economy.

But despite diplomatic efforts to break the deadlock between the two sides and the passage of the Qatari gas tanker, the threat to shipping lanes and the region’s economies remained high.

On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, while Qatar condemned a drone attack that hit a cargo ship coming from Abu Dhabi in its waters. Kuwait said its air defenses had dealt with hostile drones that entered its airspace.

Tehran has largely blocked non-Iranian shipping through the narrow strait, which, before the war, carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and has emerged as a central pressure point in the war.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al‑Thani, who discussed Pakistan’s mediation efforts to end the war with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Miami on Saturday, told Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi that using the strait as a “pressure tool” would only deepen the crisis.

He told Araqchi in a phone call that freedom of navigation should not be compromised, the Qatari foreign ministry said on Sunday, without specifying the exact date of the call. Turkey’s foreign minister also spoke to Araqchi, an official in the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Iranian lawmakers have said they are drafting a bill to formalize Iran’s management of the strait, with clauses including forbidden passage to vessels of “hostile states.”

Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the strait since a ceasefire began a month ago: the UAE came under renewed attack on Friday and sporadic clashes were reported between Iranian forces and U.S. vessels in the strait.

Clashes have also continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced on April 16.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2 when the Lebanese group opened fire after Tehran came under U.S.-Israeli attack. The latest talks between Israel and Lebanon are due to start in Washington on May 14.

Washington imposed a blockade on Iranian vessels last month, but Tehran has so far taken its time before responding to calls to end a war that surveys show is unpopular with U.S. voters facing ever-higher gasoline prices.

A CIA assessment indicated Iran would not suffer severe economic pressure from a U.S. blockade for about another four months, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

A senior intelligence official characterized as false the “claims” about the CIA analysis, which was first reported by the Washington Post.

The U.S. has also found little international support in the conflict, with NATO allies refusing calls to send ships to open the strait without a full peace deal and an internationally mandated mission.

Britain, which has been working with France on a proposal to ensure safe transit through the strait once the situation stabilizes, said on Saturday it was deploying a warship to the Middle East in preparation for such a multinational mission.

— CNBC contributed to this report.