Qatar says its mediation efforts between US and Iran continue to prevent escalation

Qatar’s Prime Minister said the country’s mediation efforts between the US and Iran were continuing to prevent the situation in the region from spiralling out of control, Al Jazeera TV reported on Saturday. The US administration remained willing to find a solution even after the midterm elections, signalling that Washington’s interest in reaching an agreement had not changed, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said. Significant progress had been made and Al-Thani expressed confidence that a settlement could be reached. “We cannot wait to reach a perfect agreement; we hope to reach a good agreement,” he said. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Saturday that initial reports indicated two missiles had struck Qeshm Island, adding there was no official information on possible damage. The United States has not yet announced any attack on targets inside Iran. Countries in the region had been anticipating that US President Donald Trump, who has held off on strikes on Iran during the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections, could restart attacks once the voting is over. Iran has repeatedly said it would respond to new attacks by striking at US and Israeli targets in neighbouring countries. Iran has been proposing its own seven-day plan since September, so far rejected by Trump. It calls for Washington to lift a blockade of Iranian ports, unfreeze assets and approve an Iranian-backed route through the Strait of Hormuz, after which the contested waterway would be reopened.