US envoy says Iran and US near agreement to ease military tensions

ANKARA — Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, said Washington and Tehran are very close to an agreement on reducing military tension, according to a BBC Urdu live page published on Friday 30 October.

BBC Urdu describes Barrack as Donald Trump's special envoy for Syria and Iraq as well as ambassador in Turkey. Its summary of his remarks is the only account of them in the material reviewed for this report. No wording from Barrack himself was available, and no terms of the possible agreement were given.

Zenga News has not independently confirmed the envoy's assessment. The source does not say when or where he spoke. It also does not say whether Iranian officials agree that a deal is close.

Qatari delegation in Tehran

The same BBC Urdu live page reports other developments on contacts between Iran and the United States. It says Iran's state news agency IRNA confirmed that a Qatari delegation arrived in Tehran on the morning of Friday 30 October to hold talks with Iranian officials.

According to IRNA, as relayed by BBC Urdu, the delegation is led by a senior adviser to the Qatari prime minister, who is also the country's foreign minister. IRNA said the visit would include consultations on bilateral relations and the latest regional situation.

BBC Urdu also cites the news agency Reuters. Reuters reported, quoting an informed official, that Qatari mediators were visiting Tehran while staying in contact with Washington. BBC Urdu says this was part of efforts to reach a possible agreement between Iran and the United States.

A second official familiar with the talks told Reuters that a Qatari delegation presented Iran with a proposed peace plan during an earlier visit to Tehran on Sunday 25 October, according to BBC Urdu's summary. A senior Iranian official described those proposals as unacceptable. The text available for this report is cut off at that point, so the official's full reasoning is not known.

Strait of Hormuz incidents

The BBC Urdu page also reports two incidents involving oil tankers in and near the Strait of Hormuz. It does not state whether they are connected to the diplomatic contacts.

In the first, the naval force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers had an accident in the eastern and western parts of the strait. According to the Guards, the vessels were trying to pass through a route that Iran describes as unauthorised. They later stopped in the southern waters of the strait.

The Guards said both tankers had switched off their navigation and location-tracking systems. They said the ships were trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz "with the support of the US military", according to BBC Urdu's account of the statement. The Guards also said the vessels ignored several radio warnings and entered an unsafe area, where the accident happened.

The Guards held the United States responsible for the stoppage of the ships and for the fire on board. They also accused the vessels of violating Iranian regulations. Those are claims by the Revolutionary Guards. BBC Urdu did not attribute them to any other source.

The Guards' statement did not give the tankers' names, their registration or the condition of their crews. BBC Urdu says independent sources have not yet confirmed the incident.

Separate report from UKMTO

BBC Urdu also cites the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre, known as UKMTO. The centre said explosives were attached to the hull of an oil tanker leaving the Strait of Hormuz, and that the attack caused a fire.

According to the UKMTO report as summarised by BBC Urdu, a small boat approached the tanker about 25 nautical miles north-east of the Omani town of Khasab. It placed two explosive devices on the left side of the hull.

UKMTO said the explosions started a fire in the engine room and left the tanker temporarily disabled. The fire was brought under control, and the ship continued to its next port. All crew members are safe, and no environmental damage has been reported, according to the report.

BBC Urdu does not say whether this tanker is one of the two vessels mentioned by the Revolutionary Guards. It does not say who was responsible for the explosive devices.

Background

The available material says Qatari officials have been acting as mediators between Tehran and Washington. According to Reuters, as cited by BBC Urdu, the Qatari delegation has kept in contact with the US side while visiting Iran. The source gives no further detail on the history of the dispute or on the specific military tensions Barrack referred to.

The BBC Urdu live page also carries unrelated news from India, including a report on a missing helicopter in Uttarakhand state. That item is not connected to the Iran–US story.

This report relies on a single source, BBC Urdu, and the claims in it are attributed to the people and organisations BBC Urdu names. Neither the US nor the Iranian government has been quoted directly on the possibility of an agreement in the material reviewed.