Cargo ship reports being struck in Strait of Hormuz as US, Iran claims about talks diverge

CAIRO (AP) — A British maritime monitoring agency said a cargo ship reported being hit by a projectile overnight off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, while the United States and Iran made opposing claims about whether they were holding talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the two sides are resuming talks to wind down the war. But Iran insisted it only was talking with Oman and the discussion focused on the Strait of Hormuz.

Here is a look at the most important developments in the Middle East on Tuesday.

Cargo ship reports strike in Strait of Hormuz

The cargo ship reported being “hit by an unknown projectile” at 2 a.m. local time while it was 37 kilometers (23 miles) northeast of Al Khasab in Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said.

The UKMTO did not provide further information on the ship, including what flag the vessel was sailing under or whether it was carrying cargo.

The town of Al Khasab sits on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula that juts into the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passed before the war.

The strait has been effectively shut by Iran’s attacks on shipping since the start of the war in February, while the U.S. also has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the waterway.

US and Iran offer conflicting claims about talks

Trump said Monday that talks with Iran had resumed, a day after saying he called of massive strikes he had threatened to unleash on the country. Trump said he pulled back at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking,” Trump maintained.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that no negotiations were being held with the U.S., adding that Tehran’s talks were only with Oman and focused on establishing a route for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump voiced frustration with Iran, suggesting Tehran had asked for the talks, which are critical to ending the monthslong conflict and reviving stalled cargo traffic through the strait.

“Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!” the U.S. president vented on Truth Social, his social media platform.

“They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman’,” he wrote.

Gaza plans mass funeral for people killed in 2023 airstrike

Gaza residents are expected to hold a mass funeral Tuesday for 112 Palestinians whose bodies were recovered after nearly three years under the rubble in Gaza City. They were among more than 300 people killed on Nov. 22, 2023, when Israeli warplanes flattened a residential block in the city’s Sabra neighborhood.

First responders recovered the bodies over the weekend after digging through the rubble for 136 hours, according to the Civil Defense, a rescue agency operated under Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

The bodies included 40 children, 30 women and seven people with disabilities, the Civil Defense said in a statement, adding that another 157 people remained missing under the rubble.

The Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has since killed 73,375 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but they are considered generally reliable by the United Nations and other international organizations.

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Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece.