DUBAI: Qatar’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, arrived in Iran on Thursday, according to Iranian state media, as the Gulf state tries to resolve a dispute between Tehran and Washington over the 2015 nuclear deal’s resurrection.

While Iranian state media depicted the visit as evidence of Iran’s growing regional links, a person briefed on the visit told Reuters on Sunday that the emir’s visit was intended to move the parties to the Iran nuclear deal to “a new middle ground.”

Since March, nearly a year of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to rescue the accord have been on hold, mostly due to Tehran’s demand that the United States remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), its elite security organisation, from the US Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

Washington has stated that it has no such intentions, but has not ruled out the possibility.

Iranian hardliners believe that a tough stance, led by the country’s anti-Western Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will force Washington to fulfil Tehran’s demands, according to Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters last month.

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In exchange for the removal of economic sanctions, Iran agreed to limit its sensitive uranium enrichment activity, which might lead to nuclear weapons.

However, in 2018, then-US President Donald Trump reneged on the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran, forcing Tehran to react by gradually lifting the pact’s nuclear restrictions.