Middle East Crisis Peace Talks

Iran closes Strait of Hormuz after Israeli attacks

Iran announces that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed due to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. This is reported by AFP.

A senior official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard says that the attacks are a clear violation of the Iran deal, and the ceasefire that Israel and Hezbollah agreed to on Friday, writes Reuters.

 Sources: US working to free Iranian assets

The US is working together with Qatar to free six billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets as part of an early incentive in the agreement with Iran. This is stated by several sources with insight to the Wall Street Journal.

The money is intended to be used for humanitarian purposes. Qatar will allow the purchase of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods through orders managed by Iran's central bank.

The six billion dollars that the US is now working to release are frozen in Qatar and represent only a small part of the hundreds of billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen around the world that are expected to be released as part of the Iran deal.

The mechanism could serve as a model for how the rest of the frozen Iranian assets should be handled. However, in order for it to be implemented, Iran also needs to approve the arrangement before it can be implemented.

Sources: Witkoff and Kushner to Negotiate with Iran

Friday's planned peace talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland were canceled by Vice President JD Vance. Now, talks are planned at a lower level, according to information to Axios.

The US plans to send envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to the talks. For Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks set to lead the negotiations and he is expected to arrive in Switzerland on Saturday.