Tuesday 4 August 2026 08:00 UTC
US-Iran Talks Stall as Hormuz Tensions Deepen
In the 24 hours ending 4 August at 08:00 UTC, promised US-Iran talks did not begin, and planned US strikes remained paused.
Donald Trump, the US president, said private discussions continued and Arab leaders had urged him not to attack Iran. He called this Tehran’s last chance to sign a deal. Iran denied any talks or planned delegations. It said only separate negotiations with Oman on shipping were continuing.
Iran rejected a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz before the wider conflict ends. It is seeking a temporary safe route through the strait with Oman. Trump said the United States controlled the waterway and could reopen it within a day. Forty-four commercial ships followed US blockade directions and changed course. Another cargo ship was hit by an unknown projectile near Oman.
US intelligence agencies assessed that weeks of airstrikes were unlikely to change Tehran’s negotiating position. The US military asked analysts for new and unusual ways to pressure Iran. Three Iranian attack drones struck a military base in northern Kuwait, near Iraq. No information about damage or casualties was available.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Iran had prepared strikes against three sites in Ukraine. He said Iran paused the strikes while reviewing Ukraine’s claim that an earlier attack was accidental. Rezaei still warned that Ukraine would pay a price.
Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a US Army air-defence soldier, died during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone in Iraq. The incident happened on 19 July at Erbil Air Base.
The United States signed agreements to sharply expand production of key air-defence missiles. The plans aim to raise annual Patriot output from about 600 missiles to 2,000. They also aim to raise annual THAAD interceptor output from 96 to 400.
Ukrainian drones set the Syzran Oil Refinery and a large Russian distribution centre on fire. A separate strike hit a major power substation in occupied southern Ukraine. It caused a widespread blackout across the area.
Oil prices fell more than five percent, pushing major energy shares lower. US emergency crude reserves dropped 2.85 million barrels to their lowest level since 1983. Venezuelan crude exports fell 25 percent in July to a five-month low. Lower Indian purchases drove much of that decline.
Amazon reached a $3 trillion market value for the first time after its shares hit a record. US manufacturing activity also grew faster than expected in July. The main index rose from 53.3 in June to 55.6.
The White House finalized plans to test advanced AI models with OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and other companies. US regulators will also restrict imports of some foreign-made advanced robots. The limits cover humanoid robots and some autonomous machines.