Qatar PM to visit Tehran to pursue mediation efforts

Both sides are at odds over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil supplies that Tehran has used as leverage.

An unidentified projectile hit a tanker in the strait to set off a fire that was later doused, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said early on Thursday, but all crew were safe and accounted for.

The memorandum of understanding broke down in part because of differences over the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman where one-fifth of the world's oil supplies passed before the war began on February 28. The guns have gone mostly silent — the US military's Central Command has not reported any attacks on Iran for nearly a month.

Washington appears to be leaning more on economic pressure by announcing plans to cut Iran off from its trading partners with increased sanctions. Hormuz oil flows have fallen to a three-month low, with just 5 million barrels per day transiting on Monday, -tracking data.

Before the war, the strait carried roughly 20 million barrels per day of crude oil. Read:Iran and Oman still working on Strait of Hormuz accord, says senior Iranian source.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Iran and Oman had agreed how to share the waterway and its revenues, but a senior Iranian source later said the two countries were still working on the details of an agreement.

Despite an aerial bombardment earlier in the war that severely diminished Iran's conventional forces, Tehran has maintained enough missile and drone capability to attack Gulf neighbours that house US military bases and disrupt oil tankers in the strait. The UN's International Maritime Organisation has reported 70 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz since February 28 that have killed 19 seafarers.

Thousands of others have died, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel attacked Iran with the stated goals of denying Iran a nuclear weapon, helping Iranians topple their government, and destroying Iran's missile programme. Mediator.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani will discuss the continuation of Qatar's mediation efforts and other developments in the region during his visit to Tehran on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on X that Sheikh Mohammed would also address freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to return to the status quo before February 28, while also discussing with Iranian officials ways to "de-escalate tensions and create the conditions conducive to dialogue.

"The international waterway was open to free navigation before the war, but Iran has since clung to its control of the strait as leverage and a revenue source, seeking to charge ships a commission, which the US has opposed. HE Sheikh@MBA_Al.

Thani_, will arrive in Tehran tomorrow, where he will meet with a number of Iranian officials to discuss ways to de-escalate tensions & create the conditions conducive to dialogue.

The visit comes in line with the State of Qatar’s firm position that the…— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari)August 26, 2026"An agreement with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz has not been finalised," the senior Iranian source told. Reuters, adding that the talks were continuing on the details of an accord.

That seemed to contradict a statement by Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who said Iran and Oman had "reached results that are acceptable to both sides" on controlling the strait and its revenues. Read more:CDF presses for end to US-Iran stalemate.

Mohebbi said the strait would remain shut unless the US met Tehran's conditions under the interim ceasefire, or memorandum of understanding, that the two sides signed in June before it unravelled. Those conditions include an end to the US blockade on Iranian ports, compensation and removal of sanctions.

Iran and Oman have held on-and-off talks for weeks about controlling traffic through the strait. Tehran and Washington have each tried to assert control over the channel, imposing separate blockades.