Tehran is preparing to shift its military posture and move to a "full offensive" as mediation efforts aimed at securing an agreement to end the war in the Middle East have reached an impasse, an Iranian official told Reuters on Monday. At the same time, Washington appeared to rule out extending a temporary ceasefire arrangement.
The paralysis of diplomatic efforts threatens to prolong the conflict that erupted following the US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February.
According to Reuters, citing an unnamed Iranian official, Iran's armed forces and allied groups are preparing to "escalate" their activities in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider region as Tehran moves towards taking decisions and "entering into action".
The same source said Iran is planning a future "timely and precise" military operation to break what it described as a US naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf if diplomatic efforts fail to produce results.
In mid-June, the so-called Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, signed by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, established a 60-day deadline, which expired on Monday, for reaching a permanent peace agreement. The deadline could have been renewed.
The agreement called for the "immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts".
However, the deal reportedly unravelled in July because of a dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically vital waterway through which, under normal circumstances, about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass.
Asked by reporters whether his administration was seeking an extension of the June agreement's deadline, Trump replied in the negative.
US media reports have referred to unofficial contacts between the Trump administration and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose role expanded after the outbreak of the conflict.
According to an Axios report, a message was sent in mid-May through an Iraqi Kurdish intermediary to IRGC commander General Ahmad Vahidi. The US side reportedly wanted to know whether the Iranian negotiators with whom it was speaking also represented the Revolutionary Guards. The general is said to have responded affirmatively.
Trump's son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, told Fox News from Israel on Monday that contacts between Washington and Tehran were "ongoing", while declining to provide further details.
At the same time, however, Trump again threatened to "bomb" Oman, a long-standing US ally, if it were to interfere with a US agreement with Iran.
The Sultanate has been negotiating a bilateral agreement with the Islamic Republic in recent months concerning management of the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides saying the process is essentially complete.
"If Oman gets in our way, we will bomb it relentlessly," Trump threatened in remarks carried by Fox News.
