Iran needs to show good intentions for mediation efforts to succeed, mediator Qatar said on Tuesday, after a delegation from the Gulf Arab country visited Tehran earlier this week in an effort to de-escalate regional tensions in coordination with the United States, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via KWSN

A spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry told a press briefing that Iran should stop threats against Arab Gulf states and open the Strait of Hormuz to show good intentions, Reuters reported. The strait is the narrow shipping route whose disruption has hit global shipping and oil supplies during the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Qatar, along with Pakistan, has been mediating between Washington and Tehran in an effort to end that war, Reuters said. Separately, the Associated Press reported that high-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey were in Tehran on Monday for meetings with Iranian authorities to try to avert renewed fighting between Iran and Israel and the United States, citing two regional officials.

Source: AP via TFI Online

Reuters reported that top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan also met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday, as Yemen's Houthis launched new attacks on Saudi Arabia and Egypt approved defence support for the Gulf kingdom.

Tensions have sharpened in recent days. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States may strike Iran again, Reuters reported. Iranian security officials told Reuters Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the US and Israel attack again — a claim reported by Reuters and not independently confirmed here.

For lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers in the Gulf, whether Hormuz reopens and whether threats against Gulf states stop matters directly for jobs, flights, oil prices and money sent home. Qatar's message makes clear that, in the mediators' view, the next step now has to come from Tehran.