Newsletters
Qatar has been working for nearly two weeks on proposals aimed at restarting talks between the United States and Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Sunday.
"We are working through our mediation team with Tehran and Washington to see whether talks can resume, and our mediators are currently moving between different capitals in the hope of making progress on this track," Ansari told Qatari media.
He added that Qatari officials had received assurances from members of the U.S. administration that Washington intended to reach an agreement.
Ansari also called for a regional settlement focused on stability and international arrangements to protect waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz. "Subjecting waterways to the sovereignty of a single state and using them as a weapon will set a dangerous precedent for all of us," he added.
The remarks come as Qatar and Oman pursue diplomatic efforts with Iran over the future of the Strait. Oman and Iran have been working on a phased framework that includes a temporary joint navigational corridor and mine-clearance efforts, while Qatar has backed the initiative and urged a broader agreement guaranteeing freedom of navigation.
The efforts have yet to produce a final settlement. Talks between Iran, Oman and Gulf Arab states were postponed earlier this month amid renewed tensions, while Tehran has maintained that reopening the strait depends on Washington meeting Iranian conditions and honoring its commitments.
Meanwhile, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called for a regional security framework bringing together the Gulf countries and Iran.
"We have to act together responsibly as a region and make sure that we have good relations with Iran, and that Iran has good relations with the Gulf countries," Sheikh Mohammed said at the Qatar Economic Forum on the sidelines of the 81st U.N. General Assembly in New York.
The crisis, he added, has challenged existing assumptions about regional security and stability, with consequences extending beyond the Middle East.
"Iran is our neighbor," Sheikh Mohammed said. "We need to understand that without having a security framework that brings us all together as Gulf countries with Iran, ensuring that none of us is posing a threat to the other, this region will not just continue in the same way as it used to be."
Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar and its regional partners are working toward such an arrangement, expressing hope that the latest conflict would encourage closer cooperation.
"We are hoping that this war is a wake-up call for everyone that it's time for it to happen," he added.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
