Iran's top diplomat met his Qatari counterpart on Thursday in Tehran for talks on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, as a US naval blockade squeezes oil supplies to Iran amid a domestic shortfall. The visit by Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani follows a week of intense diplomacy in Iran involving separate meetings with Oman's top diplomat and senior Pakistani officials seeking ways to end the US war against Iran and reopen Hormuz.

It also comes as Washington threatens wider secondary sanctions against countries, banks, and companies that continue doing business with Iran, part of a broader campaign it has called economic asphyxiation. Iranian state television said Al Thani, who is also Qatar's prime minister, had met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, without providing details. Qatar's foreign ministry said they discussed de-escalation efforts as well as the proposed framework for Hormuz between Iran and Oman.

Alongside mediator Pakistan, Qatar had played a key role in securing an April ceasefire and a June deal between Iran and the United States, but those deals have since collapsed. Since war with the United States broke out on February 28, Iran has maintained tight control over Hormuz, a vital global energy conduit, with Washington imposing a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

On Wednesday, Iran's Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said the blockade had prevented his country from importing enough petrol to cover a shortfall in domestic production. Petrol production is insufficient, and because of the US naval blockade, we cannot import it, he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.