Pakistan Says U.S. and Iran Close to "Some Sort of an Arrangement" as Houthi Strikes and Oil Jitters Persist
Pakistan's defense minister said Tuesday that Washington and Tehran are close to reaching "some sort of an arrangement," a rare public signal from a regional mediator that the two adversaries may be edging toward de-escalation after months of conflict.
"Things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal," Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg in Islamabad. "The signals in the last two or three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement."
His comments came as Pakistan's interior minister met Iranian officials in Tehran, part of a mediation effort that has also included Oman and Qatar. The diplomacy has focused on opening the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that carried roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil before the war. Tehran effectively closed the strait after U.S. and Israeli forces struck the country on Feb. 28, and its reopening has become the central sticking point.
Behind the public optimism, U.S. weapons stockpiles have been stretched by sustained strikes, and earlier stop-start talks have repeatedly stalled. Trump insisted the pressure can produce a breakthrough, but analysts caution that decades of sanctions have not previously forced Tehran to yield.
Still, public positions from Washington and Tehran remain far apart. Trump demanded Monday that Iran pay compensation for U.S. deaths and injuries tied to Iranian-backed attacks, including the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. He said he has instructed his representatives to put the demand into any future negotiations. Tehran had already made compensation a condition for reopening the strait, and Trump's move appeared intended to counter that demand.
"I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president also repeated his claim that the U.S. Navy has full control of the strait, calling the blockade a "steel wall." Iran, he said, "can make trouble, but they're broke."
The standoff has kept oil markets on edge. Brent crude jumped about 5% on Monday and was hovering near $88 a barrel Tuesday, after swinging between $72 and $102 last month. With the strait effectively shut, attention has shifted to the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb strait, an alternate route for Saudi oil to reach open water.
"In effect, both sides are trying to weaponize the oil barrel without firing another shot," said Stephen Innes, global strategist at Quintex Intel. "It is quite the game of chicken."
On the ground in Yemen, the collapse of diplomacy could have immediate consequences. A missile attack by Houthi rebels killed at least six people Tuesday in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to Yemen's coast guard. Four of the dead were crew members on the ship, the Tihamah, and two were rescue workers hit by a second missile while trying to evacuate the vessel. Ten people were injured. The deaths are the first known casualties from Houthi attacks on shipping since the latest round of fighting began.
The Tihamah, carrying food supplies, arrived at Mokha on Aug. 8 and did not broadcast a signal until the night of Aug. 10. The Houthis have announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and have stepped up attacks on shipping and on government-held areas in recent days, including strikes on the Red Sea port of Mokha and the central province of Marib. Houthi negotiators say they are open to talks, but any settlement must include lifting a Saudi-led air and sea blockade imposed in 2015.
Mokha is a main port under Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been renovated to provide an alternative to Houthi-held Hodeida. The renewed attacks threaten to reignite Yemen's civil war after a 2022 truce, and they have added a new front to the broader Middle East conflict. The Houthis have also targeted Saudi oil facilities and the kingdom's shipping in the Red Sea, raising the stakes for Riyadh and for global energy supplies.
The sense of crisis extends well beyond oil. CBS News has learned that Trump secretly switched planes while leaving Turkey after last month's NATO summit, after U.S. intelligence detected a credible plot to fire a missile at Air Force One. The president has called himself Iran's "number one target."
In Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei ordered a major restructuring of Iran's military command, merging the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters and the General Staff of the Armed Forces. The move, described as the most significant change to the command structure since the Iran-Iraq War, came after several top generals were killed during the 12-day war. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had "astonished the whole world" and proved itself "a resilient and invincible power."
There was also fresh violence on Israel's northern border. An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon wounded two people, and a second strike hit an ambulance after rescuers arrived, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Hezbollah's cross-border fire drew Lebanon into the conflict in March. Israel responded with heavy air strikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say has killed more than 4,300 people. While a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and a later Lebanon-Israel framework have reduced the violence, intermittent strikes continue.
Iran, for its part, has refused to back down on demands that Washington end the blockade, lift sanctions, and meet other conditions before Tehran will consider reopening the strait. On Wall Street, stocks were mixed early Tuesday as Treasury yields and oil prices eased ahead of U.S. inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve's next rate decision. The coming days will test whether Pakistan's cautiously optimistic reading is justified.