US strikes on Iran said to be paused amid diplomatic push

By Nathan Morley

American military action against Iran appears to have been halted, media reports suggest, though Washington has offered no public explanation for the apparent pause.

However, a Pentagon source told CNN that operations were currently “on hold” but gave no timeframe for when, or whether, they might resume.

Two competing explanations have since emerged from US broadcasters. CBS News, quoting regional sources, suggested the halt was timed to avoid disrupting a visit by Omani officials to Tehran, where discussions are reportedly under way over reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

The New York Times offered a different account, reporting that President Trump had pulled back from plans for a major escalation after being warned by senior military advisers that American air-defence supplies were running critically low.

Away from the diplomacy, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at sea.

The UN’s human rights office says thousands of merchant sailors remain trapped in and around the Strait of Hormuz, unable to leave despite the danger.

Shipping industry figures cited by the International Maritime Organization put the number at roughly 6,000 seafarers across some 400 vessels — with an unknown further number missing altogether, thought to be stuck aboard smaller boats scattered across the Gulf.

Worse still, at least nine vessels have simply been abandoned by their owners at Iranian ports, leaving 93 crew members marooned with no pay, no supplies and no way of contacting home.

Reports suggest that 17 seafarers are believed to have died since the US, Israel and Iran began trading strikes, five of them in just the past few weeks.