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Iran Conflict 2026
12AUG

Four Arab capitals call for the June ceasefire

2 min read
14:52UTC

Qatar, the UAE, Lebanon and Jordan condemned the strikes and called for a return to the 16 June ceasefire framework. None of them named who broke it.

ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Four Arab governments condemned the strikes without naming who carried them out.

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Jordan condemned the strikes on 19 July and called for a return to the ceasefire framework agreed on 16 June 1.

Qatar and the UAE host American forces and mediate with Tehran, Lebanon carries Hezbollah inside its own politics, and Jordan is absorbing missiles fired at a base on its territory. They are not acting as a bloc, and their statements converge on nothing except the destination they name.

None of the four assigns blame to a named party. That omission is the standard posture of a government that houses one belligerent's forces while sharing a border or a maritime boundary with the other. Naming Washington threatens basing agreements and security guarantees; naming Tehran invites the next wave. Invoking the 16 June framework lets all four register an objection without stating who abandoned it, which is also why the demand carries no mechanism, no mediator and no deadline. These governments have named Iran before. Kuwait declared two members of Iran's diplomatic mission persona non grata on 3 June, within a day of a strike on its airport, and handed Tehran's charge d'affaires a formal protest note, while the Arab League, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Bahrain all condemned that strike and Abu Dhabi called for a unified Gulf response . Seven weeks later the condemnation has lost its addressee.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Qatar, the UAE, Lebanon and Jordan jointly condemned the latest strikes and asked everyone to go back to the ceasefire agreed on 16 June. A day earlier, Iran had declared a related agreement, the Islamabad Memorandum, suspended; it is not confirmed whether that is the same ceasefire the four countries want revived. This kind of joint statement signals shared frustration among US-aligned Gulf and Levant states, even if it does not obligate Iran to do anything.

What could happen next?
  • Meaning

    A joint four-state call to revive a ceasefire framework, issued a day after Iran declared a related agreement suspended, signals a widening gap between what US-aligned regional states want and what Tehran says it will accept.

First Reported In

Update #157 · IAEA takes up Darkhovin as utilities become targets

Al Jazeera English· 20 Jul 2026
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Causes and effects
This Event
Four Arab capitals call for the June ceasefire
States hosting American forces and states bordering Iran issued the same demand without assigning blame to either party.
Different Perspectives
Anwar Gargash, UAE presidential diplomatic adviser
Anwar Gargash, UAE presidential diplomatic adviser
Gargash warned the region cannot stay trapped between "neither war nor peace", naming the stalemate itself as unsustainable for a Gulf state hosting US forces and absorbing the shipping-risk cost without being party to either the strike decisions or the corridor talks.
Shipping and insurance underwriters
Shipping and insurance underwriters
War-risk premiums are still set against an active blockade and a fatal Bab el-Mandeb attack with an unresolved vessel identity. A disabling strike and a diplomatic "advanced" claim pulling in opposite directions gives underwriters no single signal to reprice cover against.
Pakistan and Qatar (Oman corridor mediators)
Pakistan and Qatar (Oman corridor mediators)
Pakistan's defence minister said matters are "shaping up in favor of peace" on Hormuz and a Qatari spokesperson called the Iran-Oman reopening talks advanced. Both are publicly ahead of Tehran's own security council, which has just disowned the deal's significance.
United States Central Command / President Trump
United States Central Command / President Trump
CENTCOM confirmed a helicopter strike disabled a container ship that tried to evade the blockade, and Trump said the US "totally controls" the Strait of Hormuz. Washington is treating evasion of the blockade as grounds for disabling fire rather than the redirection tactic CENTCOM used through July.
Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's Supreme National Security Council
Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's Supreme National Security Council
Rezaei told China's ambassador Hormuz reopens only when the US ends the war and unblocks Iran's funds, and that the Oman transit deal "will have no impact" on that decision. He is drawing a hard line between the technical corridor track and the political settlement his council controls.
Yemen's internationally recognised government and affected communities
Yemen's internationally recognised government and affected communities
SABA reported at least 17 soldiers killed at Saudi-backed camps in eastern Yemen as tanker use of Bab el-Mandeb fell. The fighting adds civilian and supply risks to a route ships use when Hormuz is unsafe.