Iran war mediators focus on reopening Strait of Hormuz

Mediators in the Iran war are stepping up efforts to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened, with Tehran agreeing to draw up a list of conditions to restore normal traffic after ⁠a Qatari emissary pressed the Iranians to respect freedom of navigation.

DUBAI — Mediators in the Iran war are stepping up efforts to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened, with Tehran agreeing to draw up a list of conditions to restore normal traffic after ⁠a Qatari emissary pressed the Iranians to respect freedom of navigation.

With the U.S. having disengaged from talks in favour of an economic pressure campaign, the prime minister of Qatar, a U.S. ally, met senior Iranian leaders in Tehran on Thursday, stressing the importance of returning to the pre-war status of open shipping through an international waterway.

Qatar and Pakistan helped broker a memorandum of understanding in June that led to a ceasefire but that quickly unravelled due to disagreements between Iran and the U.S. over the strait, which handled 20% of pre-war global oil supplies.

In his mission to Tehran ⁠on Thursday, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on X ​that ⁠he underscored to senior Iranian officials “the importance of respecting freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday described the talks with Al Thani as “creative”, and he renewed his appeal to the U.S. to stop putting military and economic pressure ⁠on his country and to resume negotiations. “Putting diplomacy back on track isn’t impossible. It hinges on U.S. understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn’t work,” Araghchi said on ​X.