US Rubio, Witkoff meet with Qatari premier in Miami for talks on Iranian issue — Axios

WASHINGTON, May 10. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House envoy Steve Witkoff held a meeting on May 9 in Miami with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani as part of the efforts to settle the Iranian conflict, Axios web portal reported citing its sources. According to Axios sources, "the meeting focused on the path to achieving a memorandum of understanding to end the war," and "the US was still awaiting Iran's latest response." The news web portal reported that "one of the sources said Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are working in tandem to push for an agreement. The mediators are urging both parties to de-escalate and focus on getting a deal." The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Tehran decided to close the Strait of Hormuz to ships associated with the US, Israel and countries that backed the aggression against Iran. On April 7, Washington announced a "double-sided" two-week ceasefire with Iran. On April 11, the parties held several rounds of talks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. According to both Tehran and Washington, they were unable to reach a long-term settlement to the conflict due to multiple disagreements. On April 21, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington intended to extend the ceasefire with Iran, which was set to expire in a few hours. The Iranian State Television announced later that Tehran did not intend to recognize the unilateral extension of the ceasefire announced by Washington and would act in line with its interests.