Trump says Washington and Tehran agreed to keep talking but that ceasefire has ended

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington and Tehran have agreed to continue diplomatic talks, but that a fragile ceasefire between the two countries has ended. Posting on his social-media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote: «جمهوری اسلامی ایران از ما خواسته است گفت‌وگوها را ادامه دهیم. ما با این درخواست موافقت کرده‌ایم، اما ایالات متحده به‌صراحت به آن‌ها اعلام کرده که آتش‌بس پایان یافته است.» His comments came as the United States increased pressure on Iran to publicly pledge to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for international shipping after a series of maritime attacks.

Iranian state media pushed back on the U.S. account. Iran’s government television reported that Tehran had not requested direct talks with Washington and said it had only agreed to discussions mediated by a Qatari intermediary. The competing statements reflect continued ambiguity over both the level and terms of any diplomacy amid escalating hostilities in the Gulf.

The diplomatic maneuvering follows weeks of violence centered on the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waters. According to reporting cited in the original dispatch, attacks on multiple vessels in the Gulf of Oman on March 11 triggered U.S. air strikes on dozens of targets in southern Iran. Tehran then responded with rocket and drone strikes in neighboring countries, further heightening regional tensions and concerns over the safety of commercial shipping lanes that are vital for global trade.

Against this backdrop, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi traveled to Muscat, Oman, to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments, with particular attention to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. State news agency IRNA reported the visit, noting that consultations would include Omani counterparts. Separately, Bloomberg reported that Oman had formally told the United Nations it opposes any attempt to impose transit fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the sensitivity around freedom of navigation in the waterway.

The maritime confrontations have produced tangible legal and humanitarian consequences. A Thai labour court accepted a complaint from three Thai seafarers who survived the March 11 attack on the cargo ship Mayuri Naree and are now seeking compensation from their employer, Precious Shipping. The seafarers asked a court to award each at least one million baht (about $30,000), and their lawyer said they suffer from post-traumatic stress and can no longer work at sea. Three crew members were killed in that attack and 20 others survived.

While tensions between the United States and Iran dominated the regional headlines, the report also covered several human-rights and humanitarian items in Afghanistan. A nationwide polio vaccination campaign began in all districts of Kunar province and five districts of Nuristan, providing injectable and oral vaccines to children under five. The campaign was organized by a program named "افغانستان عاری از پولیو" (Afghanistan Free of Polio). Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the last countries where polio persists; the World Health Organization reported six confirmed polio cases in Afghanistan so far in 2026.

The report also reiterated international criticism of restrictions on Afghan women’s rights under the Taliban. Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, described the continued barring of women and girls from university entrance exams as «غم‌انگیز و اشتباه» and urged Taliban leaders to allow women and girls to return to secondary schools and public universities. Elizabeth Stickney, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, called the Taliban’s behavior toward women and girls "horrific" and said the group must end human-rights violations. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai also expressed concern and called for reopening education to women and girls.

Other domestic Afghan developments noted in the report included the transfer of a detainee accused of a November shooting near a Washington, D.C., Metro station—Rahmanullah Lakanwal—to a hospital after he stopped eating and drinking in jail, and Taliban-government statements that about 3,000 Afghan migrants had returned from Pakistan and Iran via multiple border crossings amid fresh Pakistan measures to detain undocumented Afghans. The United Nations says roughly six million Afghan migrants have returned since 2023, including about 750,000 since the start of 2026.

The combination of U.S.-Iran hostilities, legal claims emerging from maritime attacks, and persistent human-rights concerns in Afghanistan underscores the wide-ranging implications of renewed Gulf tensions. Diplomatic visits and competing public narratives make clear that while channels for talks may remain open in some form, concrete confidence-building measures—particularly an explicit Iranian pledge to keep the Strait of Hormuz open—remain unresolved and are central to any near-term de-escalation.