President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday, August 2, 2026, that an agreement with Iran was imminent and that new talks would begin the following day, August 3. He said he had called off a planned military assault of extraordinary scale — one he described as "the biggest attack since World War II" — in favor of pursuing a diplomatic path Al Jazeera.

According to Trump, the deal is "imminent, having to do with the Hormuz Strait and ultimately the denuclearisation of Iran." He said Iran had agreed to an "immediate, complete, and total opening" of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly a fifth of the world's daily oil supply passes. In exchange, the US would hold off on a fresh attack as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear program Al Jazeera Fox News. Trump declined to specify where the talks would take place or who would participate, and he did not answer when reporters asked whether there was a deadline Al Jazeera.

Iranian officials offered a notably different account of the format. Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said on Monday: "We are not going to host a delegation or be guests of a country during these days" Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Doha, said an unnamed source indicated mediators were prepared to fly to Tehran for an indirect negotiation session — meaning the two sides would not meet face to face but would communicate through intermediaries. Bin Javaid reported that Pakistan's interior minister and the Qataris were expected to send envoys, and that the talks would likely first focus on ongoing bilateral discussions between Iran and Oman over control of the Strait of Hormuz Al Jazeera.

From Tehran, Al Jazeera's Tohid Asadi reported that Iran was in direct talks with Oman, focused on reopening the strait and ruling out any foreign intervention. Alan Eyre, a diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that the only consequential channel at this stage was the Iran-Oman dialogue on Hormuz. Iran, Eyre said, had concluded it was not worth engaging directly with the US because it "can't count on anything the US says" Al Jazeera.

The market reaction was immediate and sharp. Oil prices dropped and government bonds gained value, reflecting investor hopes for a deal YouTube/Al Jazeera. Because the Strait of Hormuz is a critical artery for global energy supplies, any arrangement affecting its status carries outsized consequences for oil markets and shipping insurance rates.

This is not the first time in 2026 that Washington has declared a breakthrough with Tehran. The two sides have moved through multiple rounds of negotiation, each followed by renewed friction. In February, the White House published a fact sheet noting Trump had deployed a "massive armada" to the region and urged Iran to come to the negotiating table. In June, Trump signed an Iran Memorandum of Understanding at Versailles, and the White House released a statement titled "President Trump's Iran Agreement Is America First in Action," claiming the agreement ensured Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon and that Hormuz would reopen. That same month, Reuters reported that Iran would jointly control the Strait of Hormuz with Oman, as both sides signaled a peace deal was near and Tehran claimed victory. By July, US and Iranian technical experts had concluded talks in Doha focused on Hormuz, with Trump saying the sides were making progress on nuclear limits White House White House Reuters Reuters.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio's public remarks over the past several months trace a pattern of recurring setbacks. In March, he noted that some Iranian officials were proposing a tolling arrangement for ships passing through Hormuz. In May, he said Iran had shut down the strait entirely and was refusing passage to any country. In June, he said Iran had denied agreeing to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN body that monitors nuclear compliance), contradicting Vice President Vance's account. In July, Rubio said Iran had been expected to release a statement opening Hormuz and pledging to cease attacks — a statement that evidently did not materialize State Department State Department State Department State Department.

Trump's July appearance on Fox & Friends, preserved in a White House release, emphasized what the administration called Iran's "bad-faith tactics" in negotiations and confirmed US intelligence gathering and military readiness. The White House's framing has consistently paired diplomatic outreach with threats of overwhelming force White House.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera that Trump's pattern of escalating and then cancelling attacks on Iran has damaged the prospects for a negotiated settlement. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, struck a different note in an NBC interview, saying the US has "lost perspective" on the prospect of war with Iran and that the absence of a peace deal would be "fine" Al Jazeera NBC News.

The broader context here is one of repeated cycles. Since early 2026, each declared breakthrough has given way to renewed tension, and the current round of talks may or may not break that pattern. The diplomatic structure now taking shape leans on indirect mediation — with Oman as the primary go-between on Hormuz and Qatar and Pakistan reportedly sending envoys — rather than direct US-Iran negotiation. Whether this round produces a durable agreement or becomes another waypoint in the cycle will depend heavily on whether the Hormuz question can be resolved on its own, separate from the far more complex question of Iran's nuclear program.