Prayers were held yesterday over the casket of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the second day of funeral ceremonies that have drawn huge crowds to pay their final respects in Tehran.

US President Donald Trump told the Axios news website that peace talks had been paused for a week for the events surrounding the funeral.

Mediators, Qatar and Pakistan, concluded separate meetings with US and Iranian negotiators in Doha, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said yesterday, adding that “positive progress” was made on issues related to the MoU and the Lake Lucerne Summit.

Sources familiar with the discussions said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha

The US and Iran held technical talks in Doha yesterday as they seek to agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure a lasting ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the talks and an Iranian official said.

Shipping costs stay elevated amid security concerns

Both the US and Iran had said they would send officials for meetings in Qatar

Top US envoys who have arrived in Doha will not hold a high-level meeting with Iran, a Qatari official said yesterday, casting doubt on the progress of efforts to bring a lasting halt to the Iran war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington and Tehran both have said they were sending teams to the Gulf state, but issued conflicting statements on most other details, including timing and purpose of the trip

Iranian and US technical teams working on the implementation of an interim peace deal are expected to meet in Doha in the coming days, a source told Reuters yesterday, after tit-for-tat weekend strikes threatened to derail the fragile accord.

Uncertainty over the talks followed renewed tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran in recent days despite an April ceasefire

Iran's foreign ministry said Monday it had held the first meeting with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz since Tehran and Washington signed their preliminary deal to end the Middle East war

The US and Iran have traded strikes in recent days despite a fragile June 17 memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict that began in late February

Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday the Strait of Hormuz will remain under Iran’s total oversight and management for “the next 30 days”, and warned that any challenge to the country’s control of the strategic waterway would increase tensions.

Iran strikes US military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait

Iran and the United States have both accused the other of violating their fragile ceasefire, straining negotiations meant to end the Middle East war.

Iran yesterday accused the United States of violating the peace deal aimed at ending the Middle East war after Washington launched strikes on Iranian territory and Tehran retaliated by targeting US sites in the Gulf.

The US military said its forces struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar locations on Friday in response to an Iranian attack on a cargo ship transiting the strategic Strait of Hormuz

Israel, Lebanon sign tentative agreement to end fighting there

Israel drops leaflets on southern Lebanese town ordering residents to flee