Qatar and US cite progress in Iran peace talks

Qatar said mediators were making progress in efforts to end the US-Iran war on Tuesday, driving oil prices lower, although Tehran has denied President Donald Trump’s assertion that talks are already under way.

 

Benchmark Brent crude fell more than 4 per cent after the comments from Qatar, extending Monday’s steep losses on hopes that an arrangement could soon be reached to restore traffic through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. But for now, the strait remained virtually shut, with another ship reportedly coming under attack while trying to cross it.

 

Trump said on Monday that talks with Tehran had started and Iran faced a “last chance” to reach a deal. Iranian officials insisted no negotiations with the United States were taking place. Iran says its only talks are with Oman about the strait, and that no major meetings were planned this week.

 

But senior US officials struck an optimistic tone on Tuesday, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both pointing to progress in discussions aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor that normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

 

“There’s been progress made in those talks, but not finality yet. We’re hoping that will happen very shortly,” Rubio told reporters at the State Department.

 

Bessent said a deal with Iran on the reopening of Hormuz could be reached by Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said diplomatic contacts had reached “very progressive stages”. He said mediators including Qatar, Pakistan and Oman were coordinating closely to facilitate negotiations and exchange draft proposals between Washington and Tehran.

 

He said that negotiations were focused on “a short-term resolution that would help us reignite the talks and go back to the mediation efforts in its totality”. “Our focus right now is on lowering escalation, reopening the strait, and reopening the door for diplomacy between the parties” Al Ansari said. “We are hopeful that if we can get a resumption of the talks anytime soon, we´ll be able to push forward towards a major deal,” he added.

 

A senior Pakistani security official said: “A lot is happening in the background … We are talking to both sides. Our sole goal at this moment is to make both parties at least agree to start talking.”

 

Trump’s comments followed his weekend decision to cancel what he described as “massive attacks” on Iran, extending a pattern in which he has threatened major military action before later backing off and pointing to diplomatic contacts.

 

Iran has halted most traffic through Hormuz while Washington maintains a blockade of Iran-related shipping and ports.

 

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have also imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, further restricting oil export routes.

 

A cargo vessel reported being struck by an unidentified projectile near the Strait of Hormuz off Oman’s coast, according to the UKMTO maritime security agency. Maritime sources told Reuters on Tuesday that the vessel was a dry bulk ship. Its crew had to abandon the vessel and one seafarer was missing.

 

A projectile has hit an Indian vessel causing it to capsize and sink near Yemeni waters but all 14 seafarers have been safely rescued by Yemen’s coast guard, the South Asian nation’s shipping minister said Tuesday in a post on X.

 

Iran has long demanded control over the strait, which it says it should share with Oman, which controls the opposite shore. Tehran rejected an Omani proposal last week that would have allowed shared oversight of the strait and the collection of voluntary fees from ships.

 

A senior Iranian source said Iran is seeking full control over inbound shipping through the strait, and visibility over outbound traffic, with the ability to intervene if necessary.

 

Giving Iran such control would be a major shift in the regional balance of power and make it more difficult for Washington to argue that “Operation Epic Fury”, which Trump launched alongside Israel in February, had weakened Washington’s longstanding foe.

 

Questions are also growing about the sustainability of the US military campaign. The US Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during the war, according to three people familiar with the data, raising concerns about the military’s readiness for future conflicts.

 

Gulf officials and analysts say Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the region’s trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation.

 

“Their big advantage is that they can hurt the regional states and the global economy,” said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute.

 

Iran has publicly rejected negotiations with Washington since the collapse in early July of a memorandum of understanding the two sides signed the previous month in an attempt to end the conflict.

 

Trump has yet to achieve the objectives he set out at the start of the war: dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, curbing its ability to attack regional rivals and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers.

 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that Iran defends its borders but does not seek an expansion of war, according to state media.

 

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Telegram on Tuesday that they hit a target at Saudi Arabia’s Najran Airport. The Houthis said the strike was in response to what they described as Saudi drone incursions into the airspace over the Saada and Hajjah governorates in northwestern Yemen. The regional source told AFP that the airport´s main radar was hit, affecting operations. The airport website listed as “unknown” the status of flights scheduled for the next few days. The small airport is located near the Yemeni border and has a single terminal handling a few flights per day.

 

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Saudi Arabia´s state oil firm said Tuesday that attacks by Yemen´s Houthi rebels had no real effect on the oil giant´s production.

 

Strikes by the Iran-backed group had “no material impact on our capabilities”, Aramco president and CEO Amin H Nasser said during a call with reporters, adding that they included Houthi attacks in July which targeted the company´s operations on the Red Sea coast and elsewhere. Qatar’s emir and President Trump discussed efforts to reduce escalation and converge viewpoints between US and Iran, Qatari Emir’s office said.

 

Qatar’s emir stressed the importance of dialogue and adherence to the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding of mid-June that provided for the immediate cessation of military operations.

 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said talks with Oman over transit through the strait were positive and continuing, focused on establishing safe shipping lanes, state media reported. He added the route being negotiated was aimed at ensuring the sovereign rights and national security of both Iran and Oman.

 

Meanwhile, the White House is expected to extend a waiver of the century-old Jones Act in the coming days, sources told Reuters, reaching for one of the few tools it has to try and hold down gasoline prices as President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N for making “too much money.”

 

The Jones Act requires cargo moving between US ports to be carried on ships built in the US, owned by US companies and crewed by American workers, and the waiver aims to lower gas prices by increasing shipping flexibility and reducing transport bottlenecks.