Iran and the United States have paused military attacks, raising fresh hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough after weeks of escalating hostilities across the Middle East.

Iranian military officials said on Sunday that Tehran had suspended its retaliatory operations after the United States halted airstrikes for two consecutive nights, ending 13 straight nights of bombing that marked the most intense phase of the nearly five-month conflict.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said President Donald Trump was allowing diplomacy a chance while maintaining military readiness.

“Our forces remain locked and loaded, but the President is giving talks a little bit of room,” Waltz said.

Iran’s army spokesman, Mohammad Akraminia, confirmed that the reduction in hostilities was a direct response to the US pause.

“The Americans stopped their attacks over the past two nights. Since our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations,” he said.

The conflict, which initially centred on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, expanded to include attacks on US military installations, commercial shipping and Washington’s regional allies, disrupting Gulf maritime trade and global oil markets.

Despite Sunday’s relative calm, tensions remain high. Unconfirmed Iranian media reports claimed that an oil tanker was damaged by a sea mine, although no official confirmation was immediately available.

Waltz dismissed reports suggesting the US had scaled back operations because of dwindling supplies of Patriot missile interceptors and other defensive weapons.

“The US military has everything it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as necessary,” he said during a separate interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Attention is now turning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to the White House on Tuesday, where he is expected to press President Trump to maintain pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.

While Iran insists its nuclear activities are strictly for civilian purposes, the United States and its allies maintain they are aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu said he supported Trump’s efforts to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy if possible.

“If he can do so without returning to intense military fighting, that’s fine. But one way or the other, they have to end their nuclear programme, with a deal or without a deal,” he said.

According to reports by The New York Times, plans to intensify the US military campaign have been put on hold partly because of concerns over shrinking munitions stockpiles.

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President Trump said on Friday that he had yet to decide whether to resume large-scale military operations.

“We’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious,” he told reporters.

The conflict, which Trump had initially predicted would last only four or five weeks, is now approaching its fifth month and has increasingly weighed on his approval ratings ahead of the US midterm elections in November.

Meanwhile, the conflict continued to spread across the region.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on Sunday to have shot down a Saudi drone over northwestern Yemen, a day after announcing attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Jizan and Yanbu in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on Houthi positions.