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The Trump administration has paused U.S. strikes in Iran after nearly two weeks of military attacks in the Middle Eastern country.The break in strikes came days after President Donald Trump defended the Iran war, following the deaths of four U.S. troops killed in the conflict last weekend. "We want to get it over with, and we want to do it right, but we have to ... do what we came to do," Trump said. No strikes have occurred since July 23.Iranian and American officials agreed to a ceasefire in June, but it quickly dissolved, and Iran has continued to block the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has vowed to take control over the strait, a vital global waterway for the world's oil supply.Over two-thirds of Americans surveyed in a Washington Post/Ipsos poll released earlier this month said they disapprove of Trump's handling of the Iran war. The House of Representatives voted July 23 to tell the president to end the war 214-208, with four Republicans siding with Democrats to chide Trump. Senate Republicans subsequently rejected a similar symbolic measure – and opportunity to buck the president.United Nations ambassador doesn't say whether pause will continueMichael Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" July 26, declined to say whether the pause in strikes would continue as Iranian and American officials negotiate."What the president is doing right now, as we've seen all along, is giving some talks some space," Waltz said. "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, within both the Iranian government and the U.S. government."Host Kristen Welker pressed Waltz on whether the war would be over by the new year, as Trump said months ago that the conflict would conclude quickly. Waltz pointed to decades of Iranian aggression against the United States − and said he wouldn't "put some kind of timeline on it" when asked again about winding down the war.CNN, New York Times: Iran, Oman hold talks about Strait of HormuzCNN and The New York Times reported July 26 that Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that officials from Iran and Oman, a neighboring country in the Middle East, held talks about the Strait of Hormuz.Baghaei described the talks as productive and said officials made progress over the key waterway, but he didn't immediately provide details.About 20% of the world's oil and natural gas flows through the strait, and Iran has repeatedly used it as a leverage point during the war. The United States earlier this month resumed a naval blockade of Iranian ports, eliminating another one of the components agreed to in the preliminary peace plan reached in June.Contributing: Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY
