Cargo ship reports being struck in Strait of Hormuz as US, Iran claims about talks diverge

CAIRO (AP) — A British maritime monitoring agency said a cargo ship reported being hit by a projectile overnight off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, while the United States and Iran made opposing claims about whether they were holding talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the two sides are resuming talks to wind down the war. But Iran insisted it only was talking with Oman and the discussion focused on the Strait of Hormuz.

Here is a look at the most important developments in the Middle East on Tuesday.

The cargo ship reported being “hit by an unknown projectile” at 2 a.m. local time while it was 37 kilometers (23 miles) northeast of Al Khasab in Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said.

The UKMTO did not provide further information on the ship, including what flag the vessel was sailing under or whether it was carrying cargo.

The town of Al Khasab sits on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula that juts into the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passed before the war.

The strait has been effectively shut by Iran’s attacks on shipping since the start of the war in February, while the U.S. also has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the waterway.

Trump said Monday that talks with Iran had resumed, a day after saying he called of massive strikes he had threatened to unleash on the country. Trump said he pulled back at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking,” Trump maintained.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that no negotiations were being held with the U.S., adding that Tehran’s talks were only with Oman and focused on establishing a route for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump voiced frustration with Iran, suggesting Tehran had asked for the talks, which are critical to ending the monthslong conflict and reviving stalled cargo traffic through the strait.

“Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!” the U.S. president vented on Truth Social, his social media platform.

“They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman’,” he wrote.

Gaza residents are expected to hold a mass funeral Tuesday for 112 Palestinians whose bodies were recovered after nearly three years under the rubble in Gaza City. They were among more than 300 people killed on Nov. 22, 2023, when Israeli warplanes flattened a residential block in the city’s Sabra neighborhood.

First responders recovered the bodies over the weekend after digging through the rubble for 136 hours, according to the Civil Defense, a rescue agency operated under Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

The bodies included 40 children, 30 women and seven people with disabilities, the Civil Defense said in a statement, adding that another 157 people remained missing under the rubble.

The Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has since killed 73,375 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but they are considered generally reliable by the United Nations and other international organizations.

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece.

Pedestrians cross a street in front of a billboard depicting a fallen Statue of Liberty and crowds carrying Iranian and Shiite flags at Revolution Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A girl swings along the shore as cargo ships and other commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)

Women walk past a banner showing portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, center, and the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S. and Israel strike on Feb. 28, under a bridge in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting about military families, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - Children wade in the water with cargo ships at anchor in the background and a fisherman nearby, in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP,File)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singapore has banned the two core members of British band Massive Attack from reentering the country after they displayed a Palestinian flag and expressed support for the Palestinian cause during their concert in the city-state last week.

Singapore police said in a recent statement that the two men were investigated over their actions during the July 29 concert, including the unfurling of a foreign flag and one member shouting “Free Palestine” on stage.

They were issued stern warnings and blacklisted from returning to the city-state, it said.

“The police take a serious view of acts which could potentially harm the racial and religious harmony in Singapore and urge the public, including foreigners, to refrain from importing foreign politics as this can undermine our social cohesion and the rule of law,” it said.

The police did not identify the men involved, but footage shared on local media showed it to be Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall.

Massive Attack responded in a statement on Instagram, saying the band was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision.

The group said large sections of the auditorium had chanted “Free Palestine” before the start of their show and at the end of it. The group said they didn't expect that merely holding up the flag would violate any law, but that they were proud to have made the “impromptu expression” with their fans in Singapore to show solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

They urged the Singapore government to allow their citizens “the expressions of conscience without fear of state persecution.”

FILE - British Trip Hop collective Massive Attack performs on the Lake stage during the 58th Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF), in Montreux, Switzerland, July 15, 2024. (Valentin Flauraud/Keystone via AP, File)

FILE - Robert Del Naja of the British Trip Hop collective Massive Attack performs on the Lake stage during the 58th Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF), in Montreux, Switzerland, July 15, 2024. (Valentin Flauraud/Keystone via AP, File)