A team of Qatari mediators arrived in Tehran on Sunday. According to sources, the visit is part of a US-coordinated effort to lower regional tensions, and comes as threats of renewed US and Israeli strikes on Iran mount, months after an April ceasefire ended the most intense phase of the war.
President Donald Trump ruled out strikes for that day. Asked whether attacks could resume on Sunday, he first replied, "Would I tell you that?" before adding: "The answer is no, there will not be a strike today." But in a television interview he kept military action firmly on the table. "Now, my question is, do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?" he said, also claiming that the United States now controls the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a new war would not change Tehran's course. "Whether there is war or not, our policies remain the same," he said. He added that negotiations with Washington through mediators such as Pakistan and Qatar were continuing without interruption, and that shipping and management in the Strait of Hormuz "will no longer be the same."
In June, Iran and the US agreed a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding setting out a path to a permanent settlement, but it unravelled as each side accused the other of violations. Tehran has since called for a return to the accord.
Meanwhile, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf urged a nationwide drive to cut gas use by at least 10 per cent ahead of expected winter shortages. Iranian media reported that the Revolutionary Guards struck bases of a Kurdish opposition group in Iraq's Kurdistan region with drones, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and its allies against trying to disrupt Tuesday's Israeli election: "Don't test us."