President Trump said on August 3, 2026, that talks with Iran will start again on Monday. This came one day after he said he would pause planned new attacks to give peace talks a chance and get cargo shipments moving again. The back-and-forth between fighting and pausing has defined the U.S.-Iran conflict since active fighting began in July.

The United States and Israel have agreed to stop new attacks on Iran, as long as a deal to end the conflict is reached quickly, Trump said on August 2 (Al Jazeera). The announcement came hours after Iran threatened to strike other countries' energy fields if the U.S. launched fresh attacks, a warning made on August 1 (Reuters). That same day, Trump said the U.S. would hold off on a new attack as long as a deal could be reached quickly to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

The current pause in fighting traces back to late July. On July 27, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran would stop its own attacks as long as Trump's ceasefire held. At the same time, Iran said it still controls the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow strip of water between Iran and Oman that about a fifth of the world's oil passes through — and was not interested in talks (Reuters). Iran has since changed its position and agreed to resume negotiations.

The conflict has gone through several phases. On March 1, the White House announced "Operation Epic Fury," a military mission under the banner "Peace Through Strength" aimed at ending Iran's nuclear threat (White House). By June 19, the White House published an agreement it said would ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz (White House). That agreement did not last. On July 7, U.S. forces began striking targets inside Iran, including missile launch sites and air defenses, and Trump said the truce was over (White House; Britannica).

Fighting got worse through mid-July. By July 16, Iran and the United States were exchanging fire in a week-long escalation that mostly undid the previous month's truce. That day, Iran warned that the Strait of Hormuz is a "red line" and said it would resist "until the end" (Reuters).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters on July 23, said the U.S. wants an Iran that will never have a nuclear weapon (State Department). The State Department's travel advisory, updated July 22, notes that due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security situation remains complex and could escalate further (State Department.

The broader picture is that this pattern of striking and pausing reflects the core tension in the U.S. approach. The U.S. has used military force against Iranian missile sites and air defenses as a bargaining chip — attacking, then pulling back to see if Iran will agree to give up its nuclear program under the threat of more strikes. Iran's threat to target other countries' energy fields is a way of broadening the cost of the conflict beyond just the U.S. and Iran, which could pull in nearby oil-producing countries and global shipping companies. The Strait of Hormuz is where all of these pressures meet: Iran says it controls the waterway, the June agreement promised to reopen it, and both sides have called it a red line.

The talks resuming on Monday will show whether the current pause becomes a lasting ceasefire or falls apart again, as happened in June and July when agreements collapsed into fighting within weeks. The terms Trump has laid out are narrow: a quick deal to end the conflict, stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, and restore cargo shipments. Iran's stated condition for stopping its attacks is simpler still: that Trump's ceasefire holds. The gap between those two positions, and whether Monday's talks can close it, will determine whether the region moves toward peace or a third round of open fighting.