President Donald Trump said this week the United States is pulling back from planned new strikes on Iran, citing progress toward a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, as the two countries’ monthslong war continues to swing between open conflict and uneasy pauses.

Trump said the pause in the US military posture is contingent on being able to “rapidly make a deal” with Tehran, according to his own comments this week. The emerging framework would include what Trump described as the immediate, complete and total opening of the Strait of Hormuz, alongside an end to what he has called Iran’s nuclear threat.

Officials from Qatar and Pakistan have been in direct contact with Iranian counterparts and with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, working to prevent a fresh escalation and to work out an arrangement between Iran and Oman that would allow commercial shipping to resume moving freely through the strait.

The war between the United States and Iran began on February 28, 2026, and has continued in cycles of open conflict and temporary lulls rather than settling into a lasting ceasefire. At least 18 American service members have died in the conflict to date, according to tracking of the war by news organizations. An earlier framework reached in the spring, which set a 60-day window for reopening the strait without tolls in exchange for Iran clearing mines it had deployed there, did not hold, underscoring how fragile previous attempts at a negotiated end to the conflict have been.

Even as diplomatic efforts continue, the State Department this week renewed its travel warning for Americans across the Middle East, urging citizens to consider leaving the region. Kuwaiti authorities separately reported Iranian drone activity, and Iranian officials have issued fresh warnings directed at countries hosting US military bases in the region.

As of this week, no strait-reopening agreement had been finalized or signed, and officials on both sides described talks as ongoing.