Stalled negotiations over the restoration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have been afflicting not only the signatories but other countries in West Asia too. Prospects of a revival of the agreement have been dimmed by the domestic tumult and protests in Iran as well as warnings of potential attacks by Tehran. Added to this are the dynamics within the US following November’s mid-term elections that saw the Republican Party, largely opposed to the JCPOA, take control of part of the legislative branch of government. Qatar, a friend to both Iran and the US, is one of those watching these developments with trepidation.

Doha has invested diplomatic energy into trying to help Tehran and Washington reach a consensus to revive the deal. It has done so with a view of the increasingly likely scenario whereby the JCPOA talks collapse entirely in acrimony as unsettling. Yet, Qatar is committed to maintaining cordial relations with Iran irrespective of how tensions between Tehran and Washington...