Qatar said on Tuesday it had seen progress in talks between the US and Iran, stating that Doha as a key mediator was working tirelessly to end the uncertainty over the crisis between Washington and Tehran. The assessment came a day after Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Ibrahim bin Sultan Al Hashmi, director of the foreign ministry’s Media and Communication Department, told a weekly briefing in Doha that the White House meeting was held in a positive atmosphere and focused on making progress in the talks. Al Hashmi added that they could not say how close or how far away an agreement is, noting that mediatory efforts continue and both sides are making positive statements about a diplomatic solution. He stated that Qatari officials had held talks in Tehran and consulted other governments in the region before Sheikh Mohammed travelled to Washington.
Trump said Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, had urged him to hold off on fresh strikes, adding that he would do so for now but keep the US naval blockade in place. Tehran has proposed resuming talks in as little as two days if Washington halts attacks, lifts its blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz and waives some sanctions, with negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme coming later.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei defended the proposal on Monday, although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had dismissed some of Tehran’s conditions as outrageous and ridiculous the day before. Al Hashmi warned that the continued Hormuz closure would hit the most vulnerable hardest, calling for the strait to reopen to shipping as soon as possible. Sheikh Mohammed subsequently joined ministers from Saudi Arabia, France, Britain, Germany and Italy in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the war on the sidelines of a G7 meeting.
Source: Euronews. Read the original report ↗