Qatar’s prime minister is heading to Tehran to revive diplomacy after Washington and Iran exchanged accusations over US plans to intensify economic pressure by sanctioning countries and companies that continue trading with Tehran.
Qatar, which borders Iran across the Gulf while maintaining an alliance with the United States, has acted as a back-channel intermediary between the adversaries. It also helped secure the June ceasefire that briefly halted the fighting.
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Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani’s visit comes as the war approaches its sixth month. Although the battlefield has largely fallen quiet, negotiations have yet to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
The central dispute remains the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage for global oil shipments that Tehran has used as a bargaining tool.
Weapons fire has mostly subsided. The US military’s Central Command has reported no attacks on Iran for nearly a month.
Instead, Washington appears to be placing greater emphasis on financial pressure, announcing plans to isolate Iran from its trading partners through a new wave of sanctions.
Oil shipments through Hormuz dropped to a three-month low on Monday, with only five million barrels per day crossing the waterway, according to the latest ship-tracking data.
Before the war, about 20 million barrels of crude oil moved through the strait each day.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday described the planned campaign as the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said yesterday that the sanctions “will not achieve anything”.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday that Tehran and Oman had agreed on how to divide control of the waterway and its revenues. A senior Iranian source later said, however, that the two countries were still negotiating the final details.
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Despite an aerial campaign earlier in the war that significantly weakened Iran’s conventional military forces, Tehran retains enough missile and drone capacity to threaten Gulf states hosting US bases and interfere with tanker traffic through the strait.
Tanker hit by ‘unknown projectile’
An “unknown projectile” hit a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz this week, sparking a fire that was later extinguished, according to a British maritime agency.
“Local authorities have reported a tanker has been hit by an unknown projectile causing fire to the vessel which has since been extinguished,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.
The incident took place near Khasab, an Omani coastal city, and was reported to UKMTO on Tuesday, the agency said.
No crew members were injured, and authorities reported no environmental damage, it said.
An investigation into the cause is under way, the agency added.
The online notice did not identify the ship’s nationality or state where it was headed.
The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization has recorded 70 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz since 28 February, resulting in the deaths of 19 seafarers.
Thousands of others have been killed, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran. They said their objectives were to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, assist Iranians seeking to overthrow their government, and destroy the country’s missile programme.
Sheikh Mohammed will discuss Qatar’s continuing mediation efforts and other regional developments during his Tehran visit, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised the ‘toughest sanctions in history’ on Iran last week
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on X that the talks would also cover freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to restore conditions that existed before 28 February. The Qatari official said Sheikh Mohammed would also discuss with Iranian officials ways to “de-escalate tensions and create the conditions conducive to dialogue.”
The international waterway allowed free navigation before the war. Since then, Iran has held on to control of the strait as both leverage and a source of income, seeking to collect a commission from passing ships — a demand opposed by the United States.
“An agreement with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz has not been finalised,” the senior Iranian source told Reuters, saying negotiations over the accord’s details were continuing.
The account appeared to conflict with remarks from Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson, who said Iran and Oman had “reached results that are acceptable to both sides” regarding control of the strait and its revenues.
Mr Mohebbi said the passage would remain closed unless Washington fulfilled Tehran’s demands under the interim ceasefire, or memorandum of understanding, signed by the two sides in June before the arrangement collapsed.
Those demands include lifting the US blockade of Iranian ports, providing compensation and removing sanctions.
Iran and Oman have spent weeks holding intermittent negotiations over how traffic through the strait should be managed.
Tehran and Washington have both sought to impose authority over the channel, enforcing separate blockades.
