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

Cargo ship reports being struck in Strait of Hormuz as US, Iran claims about talks diverge 0 seconds of 1 minute, 7 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Trump says Gulf leaders' input weighed heavily in decision to hold off on ordering new Iran strikes 01:55 00:00 01:07 01:07 More Videos 01:55 Trump says Gulf leaders' input weighed heavily in decision to hold off on ordering new Iran strikes 00:40 Trump says he will order halt to Iran strikes after parameters reached for deal to end war 00:54 Ariana Grande takes a break from the spotlight 01:25 People at the Tarajal border fence in Ceuta as migrants try to reach Spanish territory 00:32 Video shows a man with a pistol firing at the shooter in Twin Falls, Idaho 00:37 William and Catherine meet Team Wales athletes at Commonwealth Games 00:47 Falling oil prices help calm worries about inflation, and Wall Street rallies 01:00 Crowds of migrants swim around border from Morocco into Spanish territory of Ceuta Close 1 of 6 | Iran said Monday that Tehran was not currently holding negotiations with the United States and was instead carrying out discussions with Oman focused on establishing a temporary route for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. 2 of 6 | Children wade in the water with cargo ships at anchor in the background and a fisherman nearby, in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP,File) 3 of 6 | President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting about military families, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) 4 of 6 | Women walk past a banner showing portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, center, and the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S. and Israel strike on Feb. 28, under a bridge in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) 5 of 6 | A girl swings along the shore as cargo ships and other commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP) 6 of 6 | Pedestrians cross a street in front of a billboard depicting a fallen Statue of Liberty and crowds carrying Iranian and Shiite flags at Revolution Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) By ELENA BECATOROS and SAMY MAGDY Updated 8:35 AM MESZ, August 4, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit 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. 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. Trump optimistic Iran talks will reopen strait, and other developments in the Middle East 6 MIN READ 59 US and Iran pause their attacks after days of escalation 5 MIN READ 600 Mediators see progress in efforts to halt Iran war as drone attacks rattle region 5 MIN READ 600 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. ELENA BECATOROS Becatoros oversees coverage of southeast Europe for The Associated Press, with frequent assignments to the Middle East and Afghanistan. Based in Athens, Greece, she has worked around the world, including covering war in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine. twitter instagram mailto SAMY MAGDY Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses. twitter facebook mailto