Qatar’s foreign minister has met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a rare high-level visit by a Persian Gulf Arab official to Tehran.

The meeting may indicate that an effort is under way to end the crisis between Iran and the US triggered by former American president Donald Trump’s decision in May 2018 to reimpose heavy sanctions on the Iranians in an effort at forcing Tehran to meet some of his key Middle East policy objectives. A rocket attack, meanwhile, on a US base in Erbil, northern Iraq, which killed a military contractor, has prompted some Middle East analysts to speculate that Iran was testing the “mettle” of new US President Joe Biden.

Top Qatari diplomat Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on February 15 that Qatar was ready to play a “key and effective role” following a meeting in Tehran with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to a statement released by Iran’s foreign ministry.

In his talks with Al Thani, an important American ally, Rouhani once more spelled out Iran’s standpoint on fully reinstating the beleaguered 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers that all but collapsed after Trump unilaterally exited the multilateral accord. However, as things stand, the US wants Iran to return to full compliance with the deal before it removes sanctions, while Tehran says the US must scrap the sanctions before it returns to the requested compliance with the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Last month, Al Thani called on other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to begin talks with Iran, and he has expressed a willingness to take a key role in mediating dialogue, particularly if it can improve ties between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic and reduce tensions in a key waterway for oil, Bloomberg reported.