US says no Iran talks as Hormuz diplomacy intensifies

WASHINGTON

The United States said on Aug. 27 that it was not negotiating with Iran, even as Qatar stepped up diplomatic efforts over an Iran-Oman proposal for a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz.

“No negotiations are happening right now,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News, adding that this would continue until Iran came to the table “in a meaningful way.”

She said President Donald Trump continued to keep all options open and that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.

Trump also dismissed the prospect of immediate talks.

“We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything,” he told reporters at the White House.

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani visited Tehran on Aug. 27, meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

His talks with Araghchi covered a proposed interim framework involving a temporary joint shipping corridor through Hormuz and a joint project to clear mines from the waterway, according to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Sheikh Mohammed called for respect for neighboring countries’ sovereignty and freedom of navigation, while urging continued diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions and resolve disputes through dialogue.

The proposal follows talks between Iran and Oman on restoring maritime traffic through the strait. The two countries have yet to announce a final agreement.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has shifted its focus toward economic pressure under “Operation Economic Outcast,” launched on Aug. 24.

The Treasury Department sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels and expanded the scope for secondary sanctions targeting Iran’s digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping sectors.

Asked whether Washington might sanction major Chinese banks over their dealings with Iran, Trump declined to give details.

“Who said I’m not?” he said. “I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”

The U.S. Navy is also preparing to send the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group to the Middle East in the coming weeks. The deployment is expected to last more than seven months.