Qatar steps up mediation between Iran and the U.S. as Rubio says talks have “never stopped”

Qatari mediators spent three days in Tehran and Doha on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as the Trump administration says it prefers a diplomatic outcome but will not accept one that leaves its nuclear and security concerns unresolved.

By Nasrin Haidari

**By Staff Reporter**

Qatari mediators shuttled between Tehran and Doha over the weekend. Their aim was a deal to end the eight-month war between Iran and the United States and Israel, and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to normal shipping. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had never stopped talking to Tehran.

“There are multiple talks; talks have actually never stopped,” Mr. Rubio told reporters in Atlanta on Saturday, according to the transcript of his press availability. “There’s been active conversations going, both – in some cases directly but often through intermediaries. And the President’s preference in any challenge around the world is to try to solve it diplomatically and peacefully, if possible.”

The administration has set terms for any agreement. “If there is a diplomatic solution we would be open to it,” Mr. Rubio said. “But obviously, it can’t be one that endangers our national security or one that doesn’t meet our core concerns.” He said an Iranian nuclear weapon “can never be allowed to happen.” He also described Iran as “at the center of all of the instability in the Middle East,” citing its backing for Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iraqi militias.

He said President Trump had not decided whether to order new strikes. “He hasn’t made a decision,” Mr. Rubio said. “The President prefers not to do it that way. If he did, he would have done it weeks ago, months ago.”

What Qatar is carrying

According to an official briefed on the discussions who spoke to Reuters, Qatari mediators held talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Friday. The talks then moved to Doha, where Iranian negotiators were on Sunday for a third straight day. The same official said the talks were being coordinated in regular contacts with Washington.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told Al Jazeera that the two sides had developed a proposal to reopen the strait within two days of an agreement with Washington. On Sunday he called the talks “ongoing and progressing” but said no final conclusion had been reached. “We are doing our best in this process, and we hope that there is rationality on the other side so that they prioritize diplomacy over other paths,” he said, according to Reuters.

Iran attaches conditions to the plan. They include lifting sanctions, restoring oil waivers granted in June, a smaller American military presence in the region, recognition of new Hormuz shipping routes designated by Iran and Oman, and an end to fighting on every front, including Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported. The Guardian reported that Qatar was also seeking the release of more than $6 billion in Iranian assets. It said Iran had agreed to shorten an earlier Qatari timetable from seven days to two.

Washington had not publicly answered the proposal as of Sunday. Mr. Araghchi has said no direct talks with the United States are planned.

Why Doha

Qatar has long kept channels open to both capitals. It hosts the largest American military installation in the Middle East, at Al Udeid. It also shares the world’s largest natural gas field with Iran. It is also exposed. The Guardian reported that unidentified missiles struck a Pakistan-bound Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker near Hormuz on Friday, hours after it had received safe-passage approval from Tehran.

Qatar is not the only mediator. Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has visited Tehran twice this month as part of a parallel effort, Al Jazeera reported.

Gulf neighbors are wary. Anwar Gargash, the United Arab Emirates envoy, said another round of escalation was in no one’s interest, but added, “We are also, as we have shown before, braced for the worst,” according to The Guardian.

Diplomacy and deterrence at once

President Trump has said the United States will not launch new attacks before Tuesday’s midterm elections. On Saturday he said the negotiations were “going fine” but “not very reliable,” and he has not ruled out further military action afterward. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, ordered the armed forces on Saturday to prepare for any attack, according to Reuters.

Analysts quoted by Al Jazeera see both tracks running at once. Hamidreza Azizi, an Iran analyst, wrote on X that “for now, diplomacy and military preparations are proceeding simultaneously.” Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said Tuesday’s vote gives Tehran a reason to delay concessions, a calculus that could shift afterward: “We could therefore reach a situation where Iran becomes more willing to compromise precisely when Washington becomes more willing to strike.”

There are also limits on what any deal could cover. In Tehran, Ali Nikzad, the deputy speaker of parliament, said Iran had decided “not to negotiate on the nuclear issue under any circumstances or under any pressure,” The Guardian reported.

The Inquirer sent questions on Sunday to the State Department press office, Qatar’s Government Communications Office, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. None responded to the requests for comment by publication.

What it means in California

California feels the war at the pump. Much of the world’s seaborne oil normally moves through Hormuz. The average price of regular gasoline in California was $5.94 a gallon on Oct. 30, according to AAA, with San Francisco at $6.00. The California Energy Commission keeps a public explainer on how the conflict reaches state fuel prices. Mr. Rubio said fuel getting through was now “comparable with what was coming out before the conflict,” and that U.S. Central Command was protecting commercial shipping, which he said Iran “actively and openly targets.”

The stakes are also personal. Southern California is home to one of the largest Iranian diaspora communities in the world, and Bay Area families with relatives in Iran have followed each round from afar. For them, and for shippers on the Pacific routes that carry Gulf energy to Asia, the plan’s two-day clock would matter only once Washington gives its answer.