Qatar said taking on key mediation role at Trump's behest

Iran keeps US waiting for its response to latest proposal after flare-ups in fighting

Tehran claims it has ‘suspicions about motivation and seriousness’ of Washington as Pakistan insists diplomacy is ongoing; UK sends warship to Hormuz ahead of potential naval mission

A state of relative calm prevailed around the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, after days of sporadic flareups, as the United States waited for Iran’s response to its latest proposals to end more than two months of fighting and begin peace talks.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Washington expected a response within hours and President Donald Trump later said it would likely be submitted “tonight.” But a day later, there was no sign of movement from Iran on the proposal, which would formally end the war before talks on more contentious issues, including the Iranian nuclear program.

A reporter for French broadcaster LCI, Margot Haddad, said Saturday that Trump told her in a brief interview he still expected to find out Iran’s answer “very soon.”

With Trump due to begin a long-awaited visit to China next week, there has been mounting pressure to draw a line under the conflict, which has thrown energy markets into turmoil and posed a growing threat to the world economy.

Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed attack on Friday.

As Tehran kept Washington waiting for its response after saying Friday it was not paying attention to “deadlines,” the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called into question the reliability of the US leadership in a call with his Turkish counterpart.

“The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” he said, according to an Iranian account of the call published by the ISNA news agency.

Nevertheless, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said diplomacy was continuing, with his country in contact with the US and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Saturday that it, as well as Saudi Arabia, was calling for diplomatic efforts to reach a “sustainable, long-term agreement” to end the war.

Qatari mediation

Egyptian and Qatari top diplomats reiterated that diplomacy is the sole path to a solution, according to a readout of a Saturday phone call between the foreign ministers of Egypt and Qatar, as a report said Doha has emerged as a key player in mediating between the United States and Iran after Trump pressured the Qatari emir to help broker negotiations.

A day after meeting with US Vice President JD Vance at the White House, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met Saturday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

While quietly operating as a go-between, Qatar has been allowing Pakistan to play the main mediating role, the source said, confirming reporting on the Axios news site.

While the Trump administration had wanted Qatar to serve as the main conduit, finding its services useful during the Gaza war and other global conflicts, Doha has been hesitant to take on a more prominent role in the Iran talks, believing it would be blamed if they collapsed or accused of bias toward Iran by pro-Israel hawks if the negotiations bear fruit, the source said.

UK dispatches warship toward Hormuz

Also Saturday, the small Gulf island of Bahrain said it had arrested 41 people it said are part of a group affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The interior ministry said investigations were ongoing but did not provide details.

Bahrain is led by a Sunni Muslim monarchy but, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population. Rights groups have said the kingdom has used the war between Iran and the US, which bases its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as an excuse to crack down on dissent.

Iran issued a warning to Bahrain. “Siding with the US-backed resolution will bring severe consequences. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital lifeline; do not risk closing it on yourselves FOREVER,” Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission of Iran’s parliament, said on social media.

Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets.

The US has imposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports. US Central Command on Saturday said its forces had turned back 58 commercial ships and “disabled” four since the blockade began April 13.

The United Kingdom, meanwhile, announced Saturday it was sending a destroyer to the Middle East ahead of any international mission to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international sea lane that Iran is seeking to control to extract tolls from foreign vessels and wield economic leverage over the US and its allies.

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait, when conditions allow,” a British defense ministry spokesperson told AFP.

Britain and France said last month that military plans to secure Hormuz were coming together and would succeed in restoring trade flows through the vital passage, though they stressed the mission to reestablish freedom of navigation in the strait won’t start until there is a sustainable ceasefire and the maritime industry is reassured ships can go through safely.