Qatar Says Iran-US Talks Ongoing, Backs Saudi Arabia

Qatar says Iran-US talks are continuing, with both sides still engaging in diplomatic efforts despite growing tensions and fears of renewed fighting. The comments, delivered Tuesday at the Global Security Forum in Doha, land as the war spills into new arenas.

"On the negotiations of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], they are ongoing, we are seeing engagement from both parties," said the Advisor to the Prime Minister and official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), HE Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, according to The Peninsula.

Al Ansari argued the lack of public detail is actually encouraging. "The fact that we're not hearing about it is a good sign that we're doing our job the right way," he said, adding that mediation has a better chance of succeeding when it happens behind closed doors. Dawn, citing Al Jazeera, carried the same remark with slightly different wording.

Qatar backs Saudi Arabia "in defending their sovereignty"

Al Ansari also spoke about standing firmly behind Saudi Arabia amid the widening regional tensions. "Qatar is supporting our brothers in Saudi Arabia in defending their sovereignty against this attack," he said.

The pledge comes on a day of heavy pressure on Riyadh. Saudi Arabia intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile targeting the capital earlier today — a story GlobalDeskNews covered separately here. Britain has also announced additional defensive military support: the UK's Ministry of Defence says it will deploy Typhoon fighter jets on defensive counter-air missions to protect Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks, stressing it "will take a defensive role and will not conduct offensive strikes against the Houthis".

What is driving the Iran-US talks behind closed doors

Reuters reported Tuesday that Iran has deliberately prolonged the talks to weaken President Donald Trump politically ahead of the November 3 congressional elections, citing three senior Iranian officials and an insider who spoke on condition of anonymity. Tehran is convinced Trump is ready to resume attacks to break the stalemate in the eight-month-old war, which began in February when the US and its ally Israel launched strikes on Iran. Trump has said the US will not bomb Iran again before November 3 — though the officials said Tehran expects bombing to resume eventually.

The same Reuters report described the terms Iran has put on the table through Qatari mediators: Tehran's proposal offered to reopen the strait within seven days under Iranian control, provided Washington lifted its maritime blockade, eased restrictions on Iranian oil exports, released frozen assets and ended hostilities on all fronts. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the offer remained on the table, with messages being exchanged through mediators.

Oil spikes as Hormuz tensions mount

The diplomatic fog hasn't calmed the markets. Brent crude was marked 1.6% higher at $111.30 a barrel on Tuesday, a 13.7% gain on the month and working toward the highest closing price since May 19, Barron's reported. WTI futures were 2.1% higher at $100.64 — which would mark the first close north of the $100 mark since Sept. 17. Al Jazeera's live coverage confirmed Brent passed $111, a five-month high, with traders pricing in continued geopolitical risks.

Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported comments from First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref that the country had "no choice but to exercise sovereignty over the Strait" while warning the US must "pay the price" of its aggression in the region, according to Barron's. Reuters describes the strait as "a vital global energy shipping route effectively closed by Iran since the war began", with ship traffic reduced to a trickle and a US maritime blockade plus trade sanctions cutting off Iran's oil export revenues.

ING's head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson told Barron's: "Oil prices remain well-supported amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East despite relatively strong Persian Gulf flows. This suggests the market is pricing in a significant risk premium, given the situation's volatility." For more on the energy fallout, see our earlier report on oil's climb as Houthi attacks rattled markets.

Barrack: US moving past "security-for-oil"

Also speaking at the Doha forum, senior US diplomat Tom Barrack said the US is moving away from its traditional security-for-oil relationship with the Middle East and no longer seeks to dominate the region — though it was not abandoning it, either.

"Every time we try and intervene, change the person or the regime, it seems to have been a mistake," Barrack said. He said the US had been involved in 23 regime changes across the wider Middle East. Al Jazeera also reported that Qatar's spokesperson said mediators were continuing to exchange messages between the warring parties, with regional partners involved.

Analyst: Tehran sees an "existential" war

Iranian-American journalist and political analyst Negar Mortazavi told the same forum the war started because Benjamin Netanyahu convinced Trump that Iran "is a paper tiger about the fall" and "this would be quick and easy" — "a war of choice" for Trump. "It sounds like they felt like this is going to be fast, quick and easy, but it happens to be the opposite," she said.

Mortazavi added that Tehran sees the war "as an existential threat", saying more than 200 officials, including the former supreme leader, were assassinated throughout the war — and that "it is literally dying but surrendering" for them.

That hardening showed Monday in an unannounced visit to Israel, where US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed Iran with Netanyahu — three Israeli officials told Reuters — ahead of a parliamentary election in which Netanyahu's position is at risk.

China condemns the attacks; Pakistan mediates

Beijing added its voice Monday. Chinese Premier Li Qiang condemned the US-Israeli-imposed war against Iran during a meeting with Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, IRNA reported. Li described the attacks as "blatant aggression" carried out during negotiations and without authorization from the UN Security Council, and said Beijing supports reviving the Islamabad Agreement and opposes unilateral US sanctions.

Meanwhile Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, arrived in Tehran for meetings with senior officials. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei said the meetings would relate to "issues concerning the negotiations", though mainly focused on bilateral relations. It is the fifth such visit since an MoU was signed in Islamabad in June, Al Jazeera noted — see our earlier coverage of Munir's Tehran diplomacy.

Why it matters

Qatar's statement is the clearest signal in days that the diplomatic channel between Tehran and Washington is still alive — and that Doha still holds the mediator's seat. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut and oil above $111, even a quiet backchannel matters: it's the difference between a war that can be paused and one that keeps widening.

What happens next

Three things to watch this week. First, whether Iran's seven-day Hormuz offer gets a US response — Araqchi said it's still on the table, but Tehran says it won't deal until its conditions are met. Second, whether the US and Israel move after Israel's parliamentary election, given Tehran's expectation that bombing could resume. And third, whether today's reported Hormuz tanker incidents push oil higher still — or force both sides back to Doha's quiet table.