Qatar Pushes US-Iran Mediation as Trump Denies Offering Concessions

Qatar has said it is working to bridge differences between the United States and Iran, even as President Donald Trump denied reports that he had offered concessions to end a war now in its eighth month.

"We are exchanging messages between the parties, and we're working towards establishing a common ground in order to get into a deal that would save all of us from the repercussions of the conflict," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told reporters on Tuesday.

Doha has re-emerged as a would-be peacemaker, having earlier played a supporting role in producing a June memorandum of understanding that led to a brief ceasefire. US and Iranian officials spoke separately with Qatari mediators on Monday, though it was unclear whether another exchange took place on Tuesday.

Negotiations appeared to intensify during last week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York, but no agreement has been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has restricted, pushing up global energy prices.

Trump repeated his position that Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon and said the war would end soon. "I don't know if they are going to give up yet but they'll give up," he told reporters. "They are doing very poorly."

On Monday night, Trump took to social media to deny reports that he was willing to provide sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal, conditional on "concrete progress" on the nuclear issue. "This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING," he wrote.

Trump has cited preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb as a central goal of the war, along with ending its ability to attack its neighbors and creating conditions for Iranians to topple their leadership. Iran does not have nuclear weapons and denies it wants to develop them, but argues it has the right to a nuclear program for civilian purposes.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview aired on Sunday that Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear program and other issues, but would not accept "bullying or coercion."

At the UN General Assembly last week, Iran floated a peace proposal that would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in fighting. Trump rejected the plan on Saturday, although Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that Washington had not officially relayed a US rejection through mediators.

The war has killed thousands of people and severely disrupted global energy supplies, fueling inflation. Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf state, was drawn deeper into the conflict this month as Iranian-aligned Houthi fighters advanced in Yemen, routing forces of the Saudi-backed government and threatening Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea.

Oil prices settled 2.5% lower on Tuesday as investors focused on signs of recovering crude exports from the Middle East, but prices were still on track for monthly gains on lingering concern about supply disruptions.

The US government on Tuesday offered to loan energy companies up to 40 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the last US batch of crude from a global deal to unleash reserves in the wake of the Iran war. Washington also stepped up economic pressure on Iran, sanctioning 10 individuals and entities, including some based in China, Hong Kong and Pakistan, saying they helped Iran procure weapons and components.