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Good afternoon, wonderful people. A new workweek gets underway as Qatar takes its mediation efforts between the US and Iran to the White House while the US’ blockade on Iran tightened over the weekend.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulraman Al Thani is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House tonight, with a new ceasefire and the restart of nuclear talks on the agenda, Axios reports. A fresh attack on Iran is “highly unlikely” if negotiations progress, Trump told CNN, adding that “it depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement.” Marco Rubio has said the talks aren’t productive because Iran’s demands are unacceptable, and Qatar has denied reports that the process has collapsed, saying both sides are still working towards an agreement.
Tehran sounds further away from that agreement than Doha seems. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no mediators have traveled since the US midterms, while Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the elections change nothing and that any concessions would be a “grave miscalculation."
Meanwhile, CENTCOM has stood up Task Force Iron Gate to cut Iran’s land routes and its access through the Caspian, with the White House calling the blockade “in full force and effect.” A US aircraft disabled the St Kitts-flagged M/V Huda with precision munitions to the stern on Saturday after it allegedly tried to run the blockade, with the crew told to clear the area first. UKMTO reported a tanker alight about eight nautical miles north-west of Khasab, Oman, on Saturday, and the UAE National Guard rescued 22 crew, all in stable condition, from a cargo ship fire in the Gulf of Oman. A drone strike on Iraq’s Khor Mor gas field knocked out around 2.8 GW of power capacity with no claim of responsibility.
AND- Isaac Herzog has given Gadi Eisenkot the chance to form a government, Reuters reports, in a setback for Benjamin Netanyahu after his coalition lost its majority in last month’s election. –Salma
