Trump’s claim of Gulf backing for Iran measures remains unconfirmed

Donald Trump named Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait in a Truth Social post on 9 November 2026, after meeting Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House. He said they and other countries preferred the “status quo”: the blockade of Iran’s ports and Operation Iron Gate.

He said there was “positive momentum” towards an end to the war and suggested a renewed offensive was unlikely, while warning that the US remained “locked and loaded” if circumstances changed. The war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.

Trump also said the countries agreed Iran could not have a nuclear weapon. The five belong to the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose foreign ministers agreed with the UK in March to work diplomatically to prevent Iran acquiring one. That earlier declaration did not address the two US measures; the governments’ current positions on maintaining both have not been separately confirmed.

Al Thani described his meetings with Trump and Vice-President JD Vance as positive and said they discussed ways to advance US–Iran talks, according to The Times of Israel. His statement, as quoted by the newspaper, did not say whether Qatar wanted either measure to continue.

The blockade is central to talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has proposed ending restrictions on the strait in return for the US lifting its blockade and making other concessions, with nuclear talks to follow. Before the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said some Iranian demands were “outrageous and ridiculous” and that the talks had not been very productive.

Axios and the Associated Press reported before the meeting, citing regional officials, that Qatari mediators had discussed a two-day proposal towards a broader deal. The US would lift the blockade and release some frozen Iranian funds, while Iran would invite UN inspectors to bombed nuclear sites. The Strait of Hormuz would reopen before nuclear talks resumed.

A proposal to lift the blockade under a deal would not rule out Qatar favouring its continuation in the meantime.

The meeting followed Republican losses in the previous week’s US midterm elections, in which the party lost both chambers of Congress. Vance and other senior Republicans have blamed the Iran war for the party’s poor performance, Reuters reported.

Pressure on land and sea

US Central Command announced Task Force Iron Gate on 7 November as a team of about 20 military and civilian personnel based in Tampa, Florida. It is intended to coordinate with other US agencies to prevent the movement of weapons, dual-use technology and sanctioned goods across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea.

On 8 November, Trump said the blockade and Iron Gate meant “very little” was getting into or out of Iran. The command’s announcement did not quantify how much border traffic the new task force had stopped.

At sea, the command says US forces redirected 147 commercial vessels and disabled five from July to 7 November. It also claimed the blockade had prevented more than $25 billion in Iranian crude exports in recent months, without explaining its calculation. The figures do not show how much trade continues or provide a historical comparison for Trump’s claim that the blockade is the greatest in history.

Trump also said Israel and the whole Middle East were protected from Iranian threats. On 8 November, Saudi officials said debris damaged an Aramco office building in Riyadh after missiles were intercepted; the Iran-aligned Houthis claimed the attack. The Saudi energy ministry said nobody was hurt at the building. Tanker attacks in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz also rose sharply in October and remained high into November, Reuters reported.