Qatar PM heads to Tehran as Gulf diplomacy shifts to economics

Qatar's prime minister is set to visit Tehran on Thursday in a fresh push to restart diplomacy between the United States and Iran, nearly six months after the outbreak of war. The visit comes as fighting has largely paused but no political breakthrough has emerged, with the two sides still at odds over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, a Gulf neighbour of Iran and a US ally, has acted as a back-channel between the two adversaries and helped broker the June ceasefire that briefly halted hostilities. That memorandum of understanding later broke down, partly over disagreements on the narrow waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil once flowed.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed the Qatari premier's visit, saying it would cover the continuation of mediation efforts and regional developments. Qatar's foreign ministry added that the talks would also address freedom of navigation in the strait and the need to return to the pre-war status quo, alongside ways to de-escalate tensions and create conditions for dialogue.

Oil flows through the strait have fallen sharply, with ship-tracking data showing just 5 million barrels per day transiting on Monday, compared with roughly 20 million barrels daily before the war began on February 28. The US military's Central Command has reported no attacks on Iran for nearly a month, suggesting Washington has shifted focus from military action to economic pressure, including plans to sanction Iran's trading partners.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Tehran and Oman had agreed on how to share the waterway and its revenues, but a senior Iranian source later clarified that the details of such an accord were still being worked out. Guards spokesperson Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said the strait would remain closed unless the US met conditions tied to the June ceasefire, including an end to the blockade on Iranian ports, compensation, and sanctions relief.

The UN's International Maritime Organization has recorded 70 incidents in the strait since February 28, with 19 seafarers killed. Thousands of other deaths have been reported, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran with stated goals of denying it a nuclear weapon, helping Iranians topple their government, and destroying its missile programme.