Qatar’s prime minister to meet Trump as Iran diplomacy faces renewed strike threats

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani privately at the White House on Monday, as efforts continue to resolve differences over Iran’s nuclear programme and conditions for ending the conflict. An unnamed US official told Reuters that Vice President JD Vance would also meet Sheikh Mohammed, who serves as Qatar’s foreign minister and has mediated between Washington and Tehran.

Iran submitted a new nuclear and peace proposal through Qatari intermediaries on Thursday. Washington is reviewing it, but Tehran says discussions can proceed only after the US meets seven demands. Iran has resisted negotiations on its nuclear activities until the Trump administration accepts conditions it wants incorporated into a ceasefire agreement.

Those conditions include removing sanctions imposed after the collapse of a memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad in June, reducing the US military presence in the region, restoring oil waivers granted under that agreement and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including money held in Qatar. Tehran also wants formal recognition of a shipping route developed with Oman through the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of all alternative routes and an end to fighting on every front, including Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera last month that Iran’s proposed two-day process was developed with Qatar and drew on a seven-day plan announced at the UN General Assembly in September. Under that sequence, Washington would take measures on the first day, followed by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and restoration of navigation on the second. Araghchi also spoke with 12 regional counterparts over 48 hours last week, advocating a regional security arrangement without outside powers.

Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme serves peaceful purposes. The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran holds 440.9kg of uranium enriched to as much as 60 percent purity, a short technical step from the 90 percent level used for weapons. Iran increased enrichment after Trump withdrew in 2018 from the nuclear agreement signed under President Barack Obama, which had limited enrichment to below 3.67 percent.

Washington has offered differing assessments of the negotiations. Trump said on Friday that his team had made substantial progress in talks with Iranian representatives. Sheikh Mohammed said mediation was continuing and that the US was willing to pursue a solution. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Florida on Sunday that negotiations had not advanced, describing some Iranian demands as unrealistic and rejecting suggestions that a breakthrough was close.

Trump warned on Sunday that additional Iranian targets had been identified, while saying renewed strikes were highly unlikely if negotiations produced a strong agreement. US media reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Central Command commander Brad Cooper were urging further attacks. Axios cited a US official saying Central Command was preparing for major operations and awaiting orders.

Limited military action has continued. US forces struck Iran, including its air defences, at least twice over the past week. On Saturday, they fired on and disabled a commercial vessel that Washington said was attempting to breach its blockade of Iranian ports. Rubio said the US would act defensively against threats to shipping or American forces.

Iranian officials have issued their own warnings. Araghchi said on Sunday that Tehran would “rain down hell” if US attacks resumed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force also threatened a response, while Brigadier-General Ali Belali said Iran’s armed forces were ready and would respond severely to an enemy mistake.