US Peace Efforts Fail as Qatar Denies Holding Missing Pilots

President Donald Trump's peace negotiators reportedly tried to reach the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership directly. They bypassed Iran counterparts and Middle East contacts to try to end the war over the Strait of Hormuz. The effort failed after getting a memorandum of understanding that ultimately did not hold.

Iran accused Qatar on Sunday of delaying an investigation into missing pilots. Tehran says these pilots are being held in the country, a claim Doha denies outright. Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of Iran's Committee for the Search for Missing Persons, said an Iranian air force and fact-finding team have waited months to enter Qatar. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported his words. He accused Qatari officials of repeatedly delaying the probe. Baqerzadeh called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene immediately.

Qatar denied Saturday that it was holding Iranian pilots. Officials said they violated Qatari airspace earlier this year and failed to respond to contact attempts. A foreign ministry spokesperson told X that search teams later found remains of one pilot. They contacted Iran to coordinate a handover. Reuters contributed to this report.

The U.S. is moving its last aircraft carrier in the western Pacific toward the Middle East now. This shift happens as the Iran war puts growing strain on the Navy's fleet and crews. The USS George Washington leaves the Pacific. It is expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln. That ship has had deployments extended repeatedly to support operations against Iran. The move temporarily leaves the region without a U.S. carrier while China steps up military activity near key American allies.

Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, offered this view. "The administration says that the Pacific is supposed to be the most important behind the Western Hemisphere," he stated. Instead, he noted, the U.S. is doing the exact opposite of its previously expressed goal of pulling out of the Middle East. Analysts say the shift underscores the broader cost of the open-ended Iran conflict. That struggle stretches carrier deployments and raises concerns about sailor fatigue. It potentially creates years of maintenance backlogs too.

No one expects China to invade Taiwan because an American aircraft carrier has left the region, Bryan Clark noted. He is a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute and former Navy submariner. However, the carrier's absence gives the Chinese another opportunity to show its strength. "They're using this as part of the narrative to demonstrate to the Philippines, to Japan, to Indonesia and others that the U.S. is not the big dog in the western Pacific anymore," Clark said. He added they would prefer countries in the region decide China is the bigger power. They want nations to believe the U.S. is not able to guarantee their security anymore. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Iran executed a man Sunday convicted of ramming police during January protests, according to the country's judiciary. Shahram Sadeghi faced charges for striking officers with a car in Karaj on Jan. The sentence reflects the ongoing tension from those anti-government demonstrations.

Eight people died and seven others were hurt in a recent attack, figures confirmed by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. An Iranian court handed down a death sentence to an individual involved after officials labeled the assault as support for Israel, the United States, and other factions Tehran considers hostile. Iran's Supreme Court approved the ruling, and authorities carried out the execution early Sunday morning.

Reports indicate that Trump administration officials attempted to contact leaders within the IRGC because of fears regarding a shaky command structure inside Iran. The White House reportedly established a secret backchannel to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is currently causing trouble in the Strait of Hormuz. This move came after U.S. officials started doubting whether Tehran's formal negotiators possessed the real authority to end the war.

Nechirvan Barzani, President of Iraq's Kurdish region, stepped in as an intermediary due to his unusually strong ties in both Washington and Tehran. Axios reported this Sunday. In mid-May, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asked Barzani to reach out to IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. They needed to know if the Guard supported the positions taken by Iran's negotiating team.

Barzani finally spoke directly with Vahidi on May 14, according to Axios. Vahidi stated that the IRGC backed the negotiators and preferred resolving the crisis through diplomacy. The White House later looked into holding secret talks between the U.S. and Iran in Erbil. Iranian officials reportedly raised security concerns, and the meeting never happened.

President Donald Trump has praised the war-fighting effort while questioning peace-making efforts. His hesitation stems from the multiple layers of leadership and command that months of U.S. and Israeli strikes have already removed. Live coverage begins here now, with reporting by Eric Mack.