Iran has said it partly closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major international shipping route, as it begins a new round of talks with the United States over its nuclear program.
Iranian authorities cited security concerns for the strait’s closure, which lasted several hours, as Iran conducted military drills in the area yesterday. Around 31% of seaborne crude oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025.
The closure came ahead of U.S. and Iranian officials’ meeting in Geneva today to discuss limits on Iran’s nuclear program. “We were able to reach a general agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will proceed from now on and move toward drafting a potential agreement,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after the talks.
A U.S. official told the BBC that Iranian officials said they would offer detailed suggestions for a potential deal within the next two weeks, at which point the countries would schedule another round of talks.
The U.S. aims to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weaponry, though Iran maintains it is not doing this.
The U.S. has also been moving towards a military buildup in the region in recent weeks. It reportedly dispatched its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Middle East, where it will join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that if Iran does not agree to a deal, “the next attack will be far worse”, referring to previous U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last year.
Trump had also reportedly weighed potential strikes on Iran amid weeks of anti-government protests in the country during December and January, telling protesters that “help is on the way”. He later backtracked, however, saying that the Iranian government had stopped executing protesters.
