The ceasefire between the United States and Iran remained fragile Monday as both sides sent conflicting signals about upcoming negotiations in Qatar, and an Iranian official described the situation in the Strait of Hormuz as "sensitive and complex."
Iran's Foreign Ministry denied that its negotiators would be meeting with U.S. officials in Doha on Tuesday, even after President Trump announced the talks would resume at Tehran's request. The two countries exchanged strikes over the weekend, testing the already shaky ceasefire, according to reporting by CBS News and Reuters.
Trump played down the uncertainty. "The meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "We're going to find out."
The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes, became a focus of international attention after France and Oman agreed to collaborate with international partners on demining the waterway. An Iranian official described the situation there as "sensitive and complex" in comments Monday.
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, expressed serious doubt that ship traffic through the strait would return to pre-war conditions. "Whether it's the horse has left the barn or the genie's out of the bottle or I don't know what other cliche you could use, we are not going back to Feb. 27, where the straits were free and unfettered," Miller said on CBS News' "The Takeout," referring to the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
"Iran has their hands all over them," Miller said, "and they're going to seek remuneration to use those straits, weaponizing geography, basically as leverage."
The economic toll of the conflict continues to grow. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, estimated last week that the Iran war has cost American households roughly $1,000 each in higher fuel, food and other expenses since the conflict began in February. That estimate arrived as government data showed inflation in May hit its highest level in three years.
On a separate front, Iran's president said Monday that the country is set to receive $6 billion in frozen assets currently held in Qatar, according to Iranian state media. The release of those assets is one of the conditions spelled out in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding.
The United Arab Emirates also announced Monday that it would allow its citizens to travel to Lebanon again, lifting a weekslong ban put in place because of concerns tied to the Middle East war and Iran's regional influence.
No confirmed meeting between U.S. and Iranian negotiators had been scheduled as of Monday evening.