Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani (L) meeting with Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Tehran on August 27, 2026. [AFP]
Iran left the door open to diplomacy on Friday, six months into a war with the United States that has upended the Middle East, but only if Washington abandons its pressure campaign.
"Putting diplomacy back on track isn't impossible. It hinges on US understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn't work," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X on Friday.
Diplomatic efforts, spearheaded by mediators including Pakistan and Qatar, have tried for months to bring an end to the war started by the US and Israel in late February to no avail.
While a ceasefire was agreed in April and a memorandum of understanding towards a final peace deal was signed in June, no agreement has been forthcoming and Washington has since declared "economic warfare" against Tehran.
In the latest effort to reinvigorate diplomacy, Araghchi met his Qatari counterpart on Thursday in the Iranian capital to discuss the Strait of Hormuz, closed by the Islamic republic at the start of the war, at the tail end of a week of intense Iranian talks with Oman and Pakistan.
A US naval counter-blockade of Iranian ports is squeezing petrol supplies in Iran, amid a shortfall of domestic production, as the US ramps up pressure on its foe, declaring an "economic D-Day".
The April ceasefire put an end to the most intense fighting, but sporadic attacks, mainly around the Strait of Hormuz, have dimmed the prospects of a final peace agreement.