US President Donald Trump will meet the prime minister of key mediator Qatar on Monday as efforts to end the Iran war ramp up following last week’s midterm elections, though senior US and Gulf officials cast doubt on the chances of an imminent deal.
More than eight months into the conflict he launched alongside Israel on February 28, Trump has played down the likelihood of major warfare restarting soon but remains unwilling to accept an existing Iranian truce plan.
Mutual attacks continue, with the US striking Iran’s Qeshm island overnight, according to Iranian state media, and Iran attacking tankers in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz this month while its Yemeni Houthi allies have hit Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is both prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, will meet Trump and Vice President JD Vance in Washington later on Monday after having visited Tehran last week.
Iran’s proposal to end the war involves an end to the US blockade of its ports, the lifting of some sanctions and a halt to bombing in return for Tehran stopping its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with talks on its nuclear programme and other sanctions to follow.
The US has repeatedly rejected that plan, which Iran has said could be condensed to a two-day timeframe, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing Tehran’s conditions on Sunday as “outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei defended the plan on Monday as the most reasonable offer on the table.
Senior US Republicans including Vance have blamed their party’s losses in last week’s elections on the Iran war, but despite growing domestic political pressure to end the conflict, Rubio said he did not believe a diplomatic breakthrough was imminent.
A senior United Arab Emirates official, Anwar Gargash, echoed that view on Monday, saying a comprehensive political settlement between the US and Iran appeared difficult.
“We should… prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor stable regional order can be taken for granted,” he said.
Vance, who led the negotiations for a short-lived truce in June, will also meet Al-Thani, whose country has been a prime mediator since early in the war, conveying messages between the sides and proposing ways to bridge their differences.
Anxiety over the war has pervaded the region for months and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he had told Trump that Ankara did not want to see a new escalation.
“We emphasise at every opportunity that it is possible to resolve these issues through dialogue and diplomacy. Unfortunately, we see a negative shift once again. We are doing our utmost to prevent this,” Erdogan told reporters.
