Officials from Iran and Qatar sat down together on Sunday 1 November for a third day in a row. They were looking for a deal to end the war between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said the talks were “ongoing and progressing”.
Iran’s rulers celebrated the American midterm results as a rebuke of President Trump. Even so, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei dismissed the idea of a major change in America’s policy toward Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow stretch of water. Oil ships sail through it, and attacks on tankers there are raising energy and shipping costs worldwide. Brent crude, a widely quoted oil price, fell $1.59, or 1.40%, to $111.84 a barrel on Monday 2 November.