A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
There has been a pause in attacks in the war in Iran.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The U.S. and Iran have been exchanging diplomatic messages after almost two weeks of U.S. attacks and Iranian counterattacks on U.S. bases and other targets in the Gulf.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Jane Arraf has been following the development, joins us from Amman, Jordan. Jane, clearly tension is still high, but over the weekend, no reported attacks. So tell us what's happened.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Well, what's newsworthy is pretty much nothing happened over the weekend in terms of those attacks by the U.S. There were none by Iran, either. And that's after intensive strikes of the U.S. attacking Iranian military targets and infrastructure, and Iran hitting U.S. bases and other targets in Jordan and Gulf countries. So why the lull? This is what the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, told NBCs "Meet The Press" on Sunday.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
MIKE WALTZ: What the president is doing right now, as we've seen all along, is giving some talks some space. Talks are ongoing. They're happening at every level, from the more technical aspect of it all the way to the highest levels, of course.
ARRAF: He did say, though, that Trump was keeping, quote, "all options on the table" and both the U.S. and Iran have made clear they don't trust each other.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. That's expected, I guess. Now - so what more do we know about the negotiations and what is Iran saying about this?
ARRAF: Well, Waltz said Oman and other mediating countries have been particularly engaged in talks over the past few days. The Iranian Army spokesperson confirmed Sunday that Iran had indeed halted attacks at the same time that the U.S. had. And Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed messages were exchanged between Iran and the U.S. through mediators.
But he said Monday that Iran had not asked for talks and said we are currently not holding any negotiations with the American side. Iran also says that it's exchanging messages with Oman over regulating the Strait of Hormuz, that oil waterway that's been the key issue in this war.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, one new detail - Iran isn't the only player involved now. Tehran has been getting help from Yemeni rebels. What can you tell us about that?
ARRAF: Well, Yemen's Houthi rebels, known as Ansar Allah, they control the north of the country in the capital and they've closed another key shipping lane. It's near the Red Sea. It's called Bab el-Mandeb. And that closure is a move aimed at Saudi Arabia, which supports the rival internationally-recognized government of Yemen. So there hasn't been a lot of oil or other traffic moving through either of those channels.
That contributed to oil prices last week reaching a two-month high of more than $100 per barrel. It's now down to 92 in this morning's trading. But all of this is an indication that the conflict has spread way beyond the original parameters of the U.S. and Israel against Iran. In particular, Iran has reiterated that a real ceasefire with the United States means that there has to be a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Israeli military is occupying Southern Lebanon and they've pledged to withdraw from some test areas, but that process is going really slowly.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Jane Arraf. Jane, thank you.
ARRAF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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