Iran talks move through Beijing and Doha as oil eases

Pakistani military chief Asim Munir and prime minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Beijing on May 25 for talks with Chinese officials as part of mediation over the Iran war. The same day an Iranian delegation led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Doha for peace talks. Ghalibaf was also re-elected speaker of Iran's parliament for a seventh consecutive year.

Several United States officials said president Donald Trump had asked Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to join the Abraham Accords together and normalize relations with Israel while he sought a deal to end the war. Pakistan rejected that proposal. The request sat beside the mediation rather than replacing the ceasefire channel.

At the Strait of Hormuz, the crude tanker Idemitsu Maru arrived in Japan after becoming the first Japanese-owned ship to transit the strait since the war started on February 28. United States Central Command said it launched strikes it called self-defense in southern Iran, including surface-to-air missile sites in Bandar Abbas and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy boats it said were trying to lay mines. Two sources said the ceasefire remained intact, and Mehr News Agency reported that the situation was calm.

Oil prices decreased by 5 percent in early Asia trading amid hopes of a deal. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX 60 Composite Index climbed 0.7 percent to 34,778.98 points, a record high, on the same hopes. Markets were trading the diplomacy even while strikes and mine-laying claims were still in the day's reports.

On May 27 the United States imposed sanctions on Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority. South Korea summoned Iranian ambassador Saeed Koozechi after Iranian-made anti-ship missiles were believed to have struck the Panama-flagged cargo vessel HMM Namu near the strait. The Revolutionary Guard Navy forced a United States oil tanker to turn back while it was trying to cross.

By May 28 American and Iranian negotiators had agreed to a deal to extend the ceasefire. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said Oman would not take part in imposing tolls on ships in the strait. Kuwait activated air defenses against a missile and drones, and the Revolutionary Guard said it targeted an American base in Kuwait in retaliation for recent United States strikes near Bandar Abbas.