US, Iran Agree to Halt Hormuz Strikes; Crisis Talks Hastily Moved to Doha Tuesday

After a weekend of mutual strikes in and around the Strait of Hormuz, Washington and Tehran agreed to a tactical pause and shifted long-planned technical talks from Switzerland to Doha on Tuesday, recast as crisis negotiations over the waterway. The flare-up followed CENTCOM strikes on ten Iranian military targets near the strait and Iranian missile and drone barrages on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, both of which the host states condemned as gross violations of sovereignty. Jerusalem is watching the renegotiation of the June 17 memorandum framework warily, mindful that any concessions to the regime that financed Hamas and Hezbollah carry direct security implications for Israel. Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated that the IDF retains full freedom of action against any threat, on every front.