At the negotiating table

Good afternoon, friends. Doha is where this war is being negotiated this week.

Qatar is carrying messages between Washington and Tehran and put new proposals forward yesterday, with Qatari officials saying mediation is ongoing and declining to characterize how far it has gotten. The Strait of Hormuz is the immediate subject. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called Tehran’s conditions for reopening it “fair and logical” and rejected reports that Tehran would bend on enrichment, while US President Donald Trump has denied offering sanctions relief or access to frozen funds. With Tahnoon bin Zayed in Muscat last week, Oman and Qatar are both carrying pieces of this file, and Abu Dhabi has been working both channels, which puts three of our capitals closer to the terms than anyone in Europe.

Brent is at about USD 101, up 0.7% this morning and lower on the week, with none of the diplomacy showing up in the price. The disruption has meanwhile reached the departure boards. Iraqi airspace is closed, Emirates has dropped its Tel Aviv codeshare with flydubai after last week’s security incident, and Air Arabia alone has canceled 14 services out of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Meanwhile, the AI world keeps on keeping on: An AI-led tech rally has rocketed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to new closing records yesterday, despite the Fed's first rate hike in three years and a months-long war that has pushed oil to USD 100 a barrel. A handful of tech giants are doing the heavy lifting, with Nvidia hitting a new all-time high after gaining 4.5% over the past week and Meta climbing 24% since mid-August, while most other stocks are falling. –Salma