US and Iran agree to pause attacks and talk over the Strait of Hormuz

On June 29, 2026, the United States and Iran agreed to halt their attacks on each other and to meet in Qatar for talks about the Strait of Hormuz. Both sides are standing down, and ships can move through the strait again.

It caps a tense week. On June 25 an Iranian drone hit the Ever Lovely, a Singapore-flagged cargo ship leaving the strait. Two days later a projectile struck the Kiku, a Panama-flagged tanker, in the same waters. The United States hit Iranian military sites, and on June 28 Iran fired drones and missiles at American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. A Qatari man was killed when shrapnel hit a ship.

The talks were meant to happen in Switzerland. The fighting moved them to Doha and changed the subject to Hormuz. They build on an interim deal the two sides signed on June 17, which the past week's strikes had nearly wrecked.

The shipping fallout takes longer to clear. After the Ever Lovely attack, the UN's maritime agency paused its plan to escort stranded ships out of the strait. Owners had been waiting for a safe way through.

For now the attacks have stopped, and the meeting in Qatar is the next step.