Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi landed in Tehran for the sixth time in the last six months for talks with Iranian officials amid mediation efforts. As if to dampen growing hopes, US President Donald Trump offered his own strategic menu: let Iran fail economically or hit it “really, really hard.” Iran continues to make reopening Hormuz conditional on sanctions relief, access to frozen assets, an end to military threats and other concessions broadly resembling provisions discussed under the June understanding. Qatar’s latest assessment that the Hormuz talks are at an advanced stage matters because Doha, Muscat and Islamabad now appear to be working different parts of the same diplomatic puzzle. Every fresh missile adds another complication to fragile negotiations already carrying the weight of Hormuz, sanctions and Iran’s nuclear future.