Trump to Meet Qatar PM as Mediator Pushes Two-Day Plan to End US-Iran War

US President Donald Trump will meet Qatar's prime minister at the White House on Monday as Doha pushes a two-day plan aimed at ending the war with Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, in the most concerted diplomatic effort yet to halt a conflict now more than eight months old.

Trump is due to meet Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, in a closed-press session in the Oval Office at noon Eastern time, according to the White House schedule. Vice President JD Vance is also scheduled to meet Sheikh Mohammed separately, a US official told Reuters. (Source: Axios, Reuters, Al Jazeera)

Qatar, the chief mediator between Washington and Tehran, has put forward what it calls a "bridge deal" — a sequenced set of confidence-building steps designed to lead to formal nuclear negotiations. On day one, the United States would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and release a portion of Iran's frozen funds, while Tehran would invite International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit nuclear sites bombed by US and Israeli forces. On day two, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen and nuclear talks would resume, focused on Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. (Source: Axios, ETV Bharat)

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Sunday that Tehran was still waiting for Washington's answer to the two-day proposal. Iran has set out several core conditions for any ceasefire, including an end to the US blockade, sanctions relief, the unfreezing of its assets, compensation for war damage, and an end to hostilities across the region, including Israeli operations in Lebanon. (Source: Associated Press)

The meeting comes at a moment of sharply mixed signals. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that there was no diplomatic breakthrough at hand, describing Iran's demands as "unacceptable" and in some cases "outrageous". He defended the war as necessary to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon, even if it was not "necessarily popular". (Source: Associated Press, Arab News)

Trump, in a telephone interview with CNN on Sunday, struck a more hopeful note, saying renewed strikes on Iran were "highly unlikely" if talks produced a strong agreement. He added, however, that the US had identified infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges, that it would strike if fighting resumed. Qatar has denied reports that the talks have failed, saying both sides are still working towards an agreement. (Source: Arab News, Al Jazeera)

The stakes extend well beyond the two governments. The Strait of Hormuz carried about one-fifth of the world's oil before the war, and disruptions to shipping there have pushed up energy prices. The unpopularity of the war and its effect on petrol prices helped Democrats seize control of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections. (Source: Associated Press, BusinessTech Africa)

The war's central dispute remains Iran's nuclear programme. Iran has long maintained that its programme is peaceful. According to the IAEA, Iran holds 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, a short technical step from the 90 percent level considered weapons-grade. Any resumed talks would centre on that stockpile. (Source: Associated Press)

Fighting has continued even as diplomacy has accelerated. The US military has carried out limited strikes on Iran over the past week, including against its air defences, and on Saturday fired on and disabled a commercial ship it said was trying to breach the naval blockade. (Source: Arab News, Al Jazeera)

What happens in Monday's Oval Office meeting may decide whether the two-day plan moves forward or stalls. Sheikh Mohammed has been the principal channel between Washington and Tehran in recent weeks, and, according to Axios, he wants Trump to give diplomacy more time. Trump has signalled he is willing to let talks run, but has not said how long that window lasts.

This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance and verified against multiple independent sources.