US conducts strikes in Iran while pursuing Qatar diplomatic talks to reopen the Strait.
WASHINGTON— The United States is navigating a high-stakes, double-track strategy in the Persian Gulf, deploying targeted “self-defense strikes” against Iranian military assets while simultaneously pushing for a comprehensive, backchannel diplomatic settlement in Qatar to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The parallel efforts underscore the delicate, often contradictory nature of modern conflict resolution in the Middle East. While diplomats in Doha haggle over the precise legal language of a tentative bilateral accord, carrier-based strike groups and coastal defense batteries continue to trade fire, threatening to collapse the entire diplomatic track with a single tactical miscalculation.