Qatar Steps in to Mediate as Trump Says US Not Talking to Iran

  • Qatar's prime minister visited Tehran ​on Thursday in an effort to revive stalled diplomacy six months into the war, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was not currently talking to Iran.
  • "We ‌don't want to speak to them. We're not looking to meet or anything," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after the White House said a U.S. economic campaign against Tehran would continue until Iran decides to negotiate meaningfully.
  • Major combat operations have been paused for weeks, but there has been little progress toward a wider peace agreement or reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route. Six months after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran, killing its ​supreme leader and maiming his son and successor, the Iranian government is under economic siege, but it still holds power and has shown little urgency to negotiate.
  • Trump, facing political pressure at ​home over higher energy prices ahead of November congressional elections, has opted to focus on economic sanctions, but aggressively enforcing them would require taking ⁠measures against Iranian trade partners such as China and India.
  • In Tehran, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged a return to diplomacy during talks with Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on ​Thursday, Qatar's foreign ministry said.
  • Iran in turn called on regional neighbours to prevent the U.S. from using their territory to carry out military or economic attacks on Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said ​on his Telegram account.
  • Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told the Qatari prime minister that Tehran would strike U.S. military and economic interests if Washington engaged in "mischief" against Iran, Iranian media reported.
  • Rezaei said the United States must take steps to meet Iran's conditions before Tehran moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Those conditions include an end to the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, compensation and removal of sanctions.

(Source: Reuters)