Qatar is sending its prime minister to Tehran in a fresh push to revive diplomacy, as Washington and Iran escalate a war of words over the United States’ vow to tighten economic pressure by sanctioning Tehran’s trading partners.
Qatar, a Gulf neighbour of Iran and a US ally, has repeatedly acted as a discreet conduit between the adversaries. It also played a direct part in securing the June ceasefire that briefly delivered a halt to hostilities.
The trip comes with the conflict approaching its sixth month: fighting has largely ebbed, yet a diplomatic breakthrough remains elusive.
At the centre of the standoff is control of the Strait of Hormuz — a vital corridor for global oil shipments that Tehran has treated as leverage.
A memorandum of understanding collapsed in part because of disagreements over the narrow stretch of water between Iran and Oman, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies moved before the war began on 28 February.
Recent weeks have brought relative quiet. The US military’s Central Command has gone nearly a month without reporting any attacks on Iran.
In that lull, the US appears to be shifting emphasis toward financial pressure, unveiling plans aimed at cutting Iran off from its trading partners through expanded sanctions.
Traffic has thinned in the waterway. Ship-tracking data show Hormuz oil flows sank to a three-month low on Monday, with five million barrels per day transiting the strait.
Before the war, roughly 20 million barrels per day of crude oil travelled through the passage.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday that Iran and Oman had reached an understanding on how to share the waterway and its revenues, though a senior Iranian source later said both sides were still working through the details.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday outlined plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said yesterday the new sanctions “will not achieve anything”.
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Even after an aerial bombardment earlier in the war that badly weakened Iran’s conventional forces, Tehran has retained enough missile and drone capacity to threaten Gulf neighbours that host US military bases and to disrupt tanker traffic in the strait.
Tanker hit by ‘unknown projectile’
A tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was struck this week by an “unknown projectile”, sparking a fire that has since been 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 agency said the incident took place near the Omani coastal city of Khasab and was reported to the UKMTO on Tuesday.
It said there were no crew casualties and no adverse environmental impact.
Authorities are investigating what caused the strike, the agency added.
The UKMTO notice did not identify the tanker’s nationality or its direction of travel.
The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization has logged 70 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz since 28 February, resulting in 19 seafarers killed.
Thousands of others have died — mostly in Iran and Lebanon — since the US and Israel attacked Iran, saying their aims were to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, assist Iranians in toppling their government, and destroy Iran’s missile programme.
During his Tehran visit, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani will address the continuation of Qatar’s mediation efforts and other regional developments, 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 discussions would also cover freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to restore conditions to what they were before 28 February. He said the prime minister would also explore with Iranian officials ways to “de-escalate tensions and create the conditions conducive to dialogue.”
Before the war, ships moved freely through the international waterway. Since then, Iran has held tight to its control of the strait as both a bargaining chip and a source of revenue, seeking to levy a commission on vessels — a move the US has opposed.
“An agreement with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz has not been finalised,” the senior Iranian source told Reuters, saying negotiations were continuing over the finer points of an accord.
That account appeared to clash with remarks from Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who said Iran and Oman had “reached results that are acceptable to both sides” on governance of the strait and its revenues.
Mr Mohebbi said the strait would stay closed unless the US met Tehran’s demands under the interim ceasefire — or memorandum of understanding — the sides signed in June before it fell apart.
Those demands include lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports, compensation, and the removal of sanctions.
Iran and Oman have held intermittent talks for weeks over who controls traffic through the strait.
Both Tehran and Washington have sought to impose their authority over the channel, each instituting separate blockades.
