Qatar: Working to Revive Iran–U.S. Talks

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said mediators are moving between Tehran and Washington to revive talks, while several proposals are being exchanged to bridge the gaps between the sides.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum in New York, al-Ansari said: “We have been working together through our mediation team with Tehran and the United States to see if we can restart again. Many ideas have been thrown around.” He added that Qatar is trying “to bridge the gap and find the right moment to move forward.”

Al-Ansari said he has heard assurances from U.S. officials that Washington wants a deal. “Open the strait, stop the war. These are the two main objectives of everything we are doing now,” he stated, adding that any solution must ensure regional stability and an international understanding on the protection of strategic waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar and Pakistan have mediated between the two sides since the start of the war. The 60-day memorandum of understanding reached in June, which eased full-scale fighting, expired last month, while attacks around Hormuz have intensified since then.

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Tehran has conveyed to Washington through Qatar the conditions for ending the war: an end to the war on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian funds and an end to the U.S. naval blockade.

Sources: Al Jazeera – IANS