Qatar steps in to mediate as Trump says US not talking to Iran

A June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran collapsed in part over the future of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about a fifth of global energy supplies passed before the war.

Iran has sought to exert control over the strait and charge fees to ships it authorises, while Washington insists it should remain an open international waterway.

Al Thani said on X that he stressed the importance of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. He and the Iranian foreign minister also discussed a proposal to establish a temporary joint Iranian-Omani shipping corridor through the strait and a joint project to clear mines, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Iran and Oman had agreed in principle on administering traffic in the strait and sharing revenues, but a senior Iranian source later said the two countries were still working on the details of an agreement.

Iran is preparing a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after mediators asked Tehran to set them out, Rezaei said. Ships would use a designated central channel if the U.S. met Iran’s conditions, he said through an interpreter in an Al Manar TV interview.

“NO NEGOTIATIONS HAPPENING”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump “continues to retain all options on the table” with regard to Iran.

“We’ve had Operation Epic Fury to destroy their military. Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy,” Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News.

“No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way,” she said. “We have not seen that yet.”

Tehran has lived under various forms of US sanctions since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Despite suffering heavy military losses, Iran retains enough missile and drone capability to strike Gulf states that host US forces and disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The International Maritime Organization has reported 70 incidents in the strait since Feb 28 that have killed 19 seafarers.

Thousands of others have died, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel attacked Iran with the stated goals of denying Iran a nuclear weapon, helping Iranians topple their government, and destroying Tehran’s missile program.