Overview
- Qatari mediators held extended talks with Iranian officials in Tehran and then continued discussions in Doha as diplomats try to revive a seven-day confidence-building plan to prevent renewed fighting.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei met publicly with top military commanders on Saturday and ordered an immediate, effective response to any U.S. or Israeli attack with no geographical limits.
- Khamenei directed an update of Iran’s ‘target bank’ to include both material and non-material American and Israeli assets and received reports of raised force readiness and a several-fold increase in weapons and ammunition production.
- Tehran is reviewing a U.S. outreach from Vice President JD Vance while rejecting earlier mediator terms that required nuclear concessions and insisting that the U.S. first lift its naval blockade and oil sanctions.
- The conflict has cut traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, squeezed energy markets, and left the situation highly volatile because U.S. officials have kept military strikes on the table after the midterm elections.