{"id":21599,"date":"2026-07-26T15:15:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21599"},"modified":"2026-07-26T15:15:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:15:28","slug":"us-strikes-on-a-hold-as-talks-battle-for-strait-of-hormuz-control-loom-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21599","title":{"rendered":"US strikes &#8216;on a hold,&#8217; as talks, battle for Strait of Hormuz control loom with Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><!----><time class=\"time\" datetime=\"Sun Jul 26 2026 06:44:30 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)\">4 hours ago<\/time><!----><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"title\"><!--(-->Netanyahu visit, Israel participation in future Iran strikes loom amid 2-day pause for talks<!--)--><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div><!--(--><!--(--><!----><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>The U.S. military has paused its airstrikes on Iran after nearly two weeks of intensifying bombing, while diplomatic efforts have pushed forward to try to avert a return to all-out war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>But it remains to be seen whether the U.S. and Iran are at an inflection point in a mercurial conflict that will reach the five-month point Tuesday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>President Donald Trump both has threatened more strikes and said talks are pressing on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>Adding to the uncertainty is the impact of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s planned visit with Trump next week in Washington. Israel, which launched the war alongside the U.S. on Feb. 28, has been notably absent from the renewed American attacks over Iran\u2019s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil normally flows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>\u201cThe Iranians understand that perhaps it could get worse because Israel could come into the conflict,\u201d said Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>On the other hand, Israel\u2019s lack of involvement so far \u201cmay signal to the Iranians that we\u2019re looking to limit the conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>Singh, who was senior Middle East director on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said he was hesitant to read too much into the lull in fighting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p>\u201cIf it turns into a multiday pause, that\u2019ll be something significant,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s hard to know. Is it an operational pause? Is it a pause to allow for some kind of behind-the-scenes diplomacy?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--(--><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-item-body\">\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--)--><!--)--><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 hours ago Netanyahu visit, Israel participation in future Iran strikes loom amid 2-day pause&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}