Jerusalem, Aug 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country will not withdraw its forces from their current positions in Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed.

“We are instructing IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers to do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our territory and our citizens,” Netanyahu said in a video released on social media.

Regarding the deal US President Donald Trump said Thursday the so-called “Board of Peace” had reached for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, Netanyahu said that the White House “sent us a draft,” but “we did not agree to it.”

“It is not our draft. We sent our comments,” he said.

A day after Trump’s announcement of the deal, Hamas said it had agreed to the “latest version of the roadmap” for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement after “fierce” negotiations, but conditioned weaponry arrangements on a complete halt to “aggression,” Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, and progress on reconstruction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Over the weekend, Israeli strikes reportedly killed dozens of people, including children and other civilians, across Gaza, prompting Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye, mediators in the Gaza ceasefire talks, to issue a joint condemnation on Monday.

Earlier, Hamas agreed to relinquish both its civilian and military role in governing Gaza under a new internationally backed roadmap that would hand control of the territory to a transitional Palestinian administration as part of a phased peace process, according to senior administration officials.

The proposal, announced by Trump as part of his Gaza peace initiative, goes beyond a ceasefire by outlining a detailed plan to dismantle Hamas’s governing structure. Instead a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, an independent Palestinian body would oversee both civilian administration and internal security during a transitional period.

Senior administration officials said the roadmap represents the first time Hamas has agreed to accept an international framework that requires it to surrender its governing role while allowing a new Palestinian authority to assume responsibility for administering Gaza.

The document states that all civilian and security responsibilities would be transferred to the National Committee, which would become the sole authority responsible for running public institutions, maintaining essential services and enforcing law and order across the Gaza Strip. It also calls for the committee to conduct a comprehensive audit of Gaza’s financial and administrative affairs before beginning reconstruction.

New York, Aug 4: Iran is in talks with Oman to set up a “single two-way route” through the Strait of Hormuz to allow ships through the strategic waterway, according to Tehran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei.

That arrangement would replace “the multiple separate lanes” that shipping used in the strait, he said at a news briefing in Tehran on Monday, according to the news agency IRNA.

The negotiations between the two countries on opposite sides of the strait “have focused on replacing separate northern and southern routes with a single intermediate corridor designed to accommodate the interests and security concerns of both coastal states”, IRNA said, paraphrasing the spokesperson.

However, Oman’s foreign ministry has been silent on the negotiations as of early Tuesday, neither publicly denying nor confirming they were afoot.

If they do agree on an arrangement for ships to resume sailing through the strait, it would be a boon for countries — and the world economy — that are strangled by the block on energy shipping.

But it would also sideline the US because, according to Tasnim news wire, Baqaei said no other country was involved in the talks.

US President Donald Trump has said that talks were taking place with Iran on reopening the Strait, but Baqaei denied it.

The strait has been closed since the February Israel-US attack on Iran, except for occasional spurts in ship traffic.

Tehran has mined the strait and also attacked ships trying to pass through, while the US has blockaded Iranian ports and fired on ships defying it.

IRNA said, “The proposed interim corridor would remain in use until Iran and Oman agree on a permanent replacement for the existing international Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS)”.

The UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted in 1968 the TSS proposed by Iran and Oman.

“It designates shipping lanes for maritime traffic in order to reduce collisions and improve safety”, according to the IMO.

The TSS designates two-mile wide lanes in each direction with a two-mile separation strip between them.

The IMO has now advised ships to avoid the TSS “due to the reported presence of mines”.

Media reports quoting unnamed US and Iranian officials said that under the Muscat-Tehran plan the Strait would operate like a highway with ships travelling on lanes on the right-hand side.

Those going to the Gulf countries would follow a route near the Iranians side, while those exiting would go on the Oman side, according to the reports.

However, Baqaei said the southern route through Omani waters that Washington tried to operate “contradicted” the June Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran “and created environmental and national security concerns”.

The US Navy escorted some ships along the Omani side, but the ships came under attack, and it was stopped.

The media reports said that under the arrangement, Iran could charge a service fee from ships going through its side without calling it a toll that would run afoul of international law, and which Trump has vehemently opposed.

From reports on his briefing, Baqaei appeared to have sidestepped a question on fees.

New York, Aug 4: Even as US President Donald Trump warned that he was giving Iran a “last chance before decapitation”, he said that they were talking about opening the Strait of Hormuz “literally by tomorrow”.

“I mean they’re going to go quickly, one way or the other. It’s not very complex”, he said on Monday at the Oval Office.

“We’re talking about the Strait, the opening of the Strait, having it open, literally by tomorrow”, he said, but Iran has denied there were any talks with the US.

The contradictory claims leave the gateway to the world for 20 per cent of fossil fuels trapped in uncertainty.

“We are not holding any negotiations with the United States at present”, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said at a news briefing in Tehran.

Speaking a few hours before Trump, he said that except for Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is on a pilgrimage to Iraq, all the negotiators were in Iran.

Trump dismissed it, writing on Truth Social, “Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous” because after they “beg” for a meeting “they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions”.

Baqaei did say that Iran was in consultations with Oman, which is across from it on the Strait, for what the Iranian news agency Tasnim described as a “temporary arrangement that would ensure maritime safety in the strategic waterway”.

He said that no other country was involved in Muscat-Tehran talks.

Trump said that he held off the massive bombing campaign he had planned on Sunday because Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and “numerous people” called him to hold off.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Trump on Sunday and, according to the Saudi Press Agency, “emphasised the necessity of prioritising dialogue to reduce tensions and the importance of exerting all possible efforts to achieve a truce that paves the way for diplomatic solutions”.

Trump said Iran was spooked by leaks about the planned attack, “very very hard, harder than any” since World War II and pleaded,”We want to talk. We want to talk about the Strait”.

A Memorandum of Understanding on opening the Strait, where shipping was disrupted after the bombing of Iran, was signed by Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian on June 17, but unravelled within weeks after Iran attacked ships in the Strait and the US blockaded Iranian ports.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had initiated the February 28 bombing of Iran with the US, met Trump in Washington last week.

Days after the meeting, Trump prepared for the attack, which media reports said could be carried out with Israel.

However, the Gulf and neighbouring countries have a stake in preventing the conflict from flaring up as they bear the direct brunt of Iran’s retaliation.

Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan killed three US Army personnel, one of them of Indian origin, last month.

Iran also hit Bahrain and Kuwait in the resumed confrontation.

A second chokepoint, the Bab al-Mandab Strait that leads to the Red Sea, was also put into play when Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi oil installations in the area.

That disrupted shipping in the area, which serves as an alternate outlet for some oil, mainly from Saudi Arabia.