Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said efforts to mediate between the United States and Iran were continuing, with significant progress made toward a possible settlement, Al Jazeera TV reported on Saturday, November 7. He said the diplomatic work was intended to keep the situation in the region from spiraling out of control.
According to Al-Thani, the US administration remained open to finding a solution following Tuesday's midterm elections. He said Washington's willingness to pursue an agreement had not changed after the vote, and expressed confidence that the mediation process could still produce a settlement between the two sides.
Al-Thani described an agreement as achievable without suggesting that every issue would have to be resolved perfectly. "We cannot wait to reach a perfect agreement; we hope to reach a good agreement," he said. His comments combined an assessment of progress already made with continued hope that the negotiations could lead to a deal.
Separately, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday that preliminary accounts indicated two missiles had hit Qeshm Island. The agency said there was no official information about any possible damage. The United States had not announced an attack on targets inside Iran, leaving the reported strikes without a corresponding US announcement.
Countries across the region had been anticipating the possibility of renewed American attacks after the midterm elections. US President Donald Trump had refrained from striking Iran in the weeks before Tuesday's voting, but regional governments had expected that attacks could resume once the elections were over.
Iran has repeatedly warned that any new attacks would prompt it to strike US and Israeli targets in neighboring countries. Those warnings formed part of the regional situation in which Qatar was continuing its efforts to bring Washington and Tehran toward an agreement.
Since September, Iran has put forward its own proposal for a seven-day plan, which Trump has so far rejected. The proposal calls for the United States to end a blockade of Iranian ports and unfreeze assets, alongside approval of an Iranian-backed route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Under the Iranian proposal, the contested waterway would reopen after those steps were taken. That plan remained rejected even as Al-Thani reported progress in Qatar's mediation and said Washington continued to show interest in reaching a settlement.
