Iran, Qatar hold Hormuz talks amid int’l hopes dialogue with US will resume

What the report says

Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, met Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday to discuss the future of the Strait of Hormuz and broader efforts to ease regional tensions, according to Al Jazeera and statements from Qatar’s foreign ministry. The talks involved Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and later meetings with President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as Doha and Tehran reviewed steps aimed at reducing escalation and creating conditions for renewed dialogue.

The Qatari statement said the discussions included ideas for a temporary shipping corridor through the strait and a possible joint project to clear mines from the waterway. Hormuz is strategically important because a large share of global oil shipments passes through it in normal times. The article also said Iran and Qatar discussed freedom of navigation and regional security, while Iranian officials stressed the need to de-escalate tensions.

The meetings came after a week of diplomacy in Iran involving officials from Oman and Pakistan, who have also been trying to help reopen the waterway and support talks linked to the war between the US-Israel side and Iran. Al Jazeera reported that Qatar previously played a mediation role in a ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US, though those understandings later collapsed. The article said there is still no agreement, but diplomacy appears to be continuing through Qatar, Oman and other Gulf channels.