US President Donald Trump received and made a round of Gulf diplomacy on Friday, speaking by telephone with Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, about Qatar's mediation efforts toward a comprehensive agreement to end the regional crisis, a Qatari statement said on Friday, reported by Reuters. The two leaders reviewed US-Qatar strategic relations and discussed the latest regional developments, particularly the diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) said in the Amiri Diwan's account of the call.

Source: Qatar News Agency via Fana News

AFP, reporting the same Amiri Diwan statement, said Trump called the Qatari leader on Friday to discuss efforts to end the US-Iran war, amid a diplomatic push to avoid a new round of conflict. Sheikh Tamim received the call from Trump, the Diwan said, and the pair discussed the diplomatic efforts undertaken by mediator Qatar to de-escalate tensions in the region.

Source: AFP via News Central TV

The call follows Thursday's step, when Iran sent Washington a nuclear proposal through Qatar while insisting its seven demands be met first. Read: Iran's nuclear proposal via Qatar and its seven demands

What the Emir told Trump

His Highness emphasised the importance of continuing dialogue and embracing diplomacy as a means of resolving disputes, preventing further escalation in the region, and safeguarding freedom of maritime navigation and the security of energy supplies, QNA reported. Reuters' summary of the Qatari statement said the leaders discussed Qatar's mediation efforts towards a comprehensive agreement to end the regional crisis. The call discussed the international efforts led by Qatar to bridge the gaps between the concerned parties and support the negotiation process, paving the way for an agreement that ensures security and stability in the region, QNA said.

A call made under the shadow of renewed strikes

The diplomacy came hours after Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday evening that he is on the verge of deciding whether to resume military operations against Iran. 'Do we want to proceed with new attacks to ensure the elimination of the nuclear program? I don't want to destroy the rest of the country if it can be avoided — though I might have to — and you will know the decision soon,' Trump said, in remarks reported by ANI. Senior US officials confirmed to Fox News that key national security meetings took place at the White House on Wednesday and Thursday, ANI reported, and Axios, citing a US official, reported that US Central Command (CENTCOM) is stepping up preparations for a possible resumption of major operations in Iran, though it had not received new orders.

Iran's proposal, and its price

Iran has submitted a nuclear proposal to Washington through Qatar, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, saying the United States was reviewing it but that discussions would depend on Washington first meeting Tehran's seven demands. Those demands, as reported, include lifting economic sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian assets, ending the naval blockade of Iranian ports, ending the war on all fronts and paying reparations for war damage. Iran's security chief, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, restated the position after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday: until the seven conditions are fulfilled, Tehran says, the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened and there will be no negotiations.

In parallel, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held telephone conversations with his counterparts in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman as regional diplomatic efforts continued, ANI reported — the same flurry of Gulf calls of which Friday's Trump-Tamim conversation was the Washington end.

Why this matters for the Gulf, and for Punjabi and Indian workers there

Qatar's stated priorities in the call — freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and the security of energy supplies — are the two channels through which this war reaches households far from the battlefield: oil and shipping. Lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers live and work across the Gulf states, and every escalation round has raised airfare, remittance and job-safety worries for their families. Oil markets underlined the stakes this week: Brent settled at $98.29 a barrel on Thursday after fresh tanker attacks in and around Hormuz, Reuters reported, even as the benchmark remained on course for a weekly fall of about 12 percent on hopes the war could ease.

What happens next

Trump has said his decision on resuming strikes will be known 'soon,' and no date for US-Iran talks has been announced. Qatar says its bridging work continues in real time. The next signals to watch are a White House decision on CENTCOM's preparations, any US reply to Iran's Qatar-channelled proposal, and whether Tehran's seven conditions soften — the gap between Washington's demand that nuclear issues come first and Tehran's demand that its conditions come first remains the core obstacle, on the reporting of both sides.