World News Today Live Updates: Trump to meet Qatar PM as Doha pushes new proposals in US-Iran talks

US President Donald Trump is set to meet Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Monday as Doha steps up diplomatic efforts to advance negotiations between Washington and Tehran. (Photo/AP)

US President Donald Trump will meet Qatar’s Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on Monday in the Oval Office as Doha steps up diplomatic efforts to advance negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Qatar, a key mediator in the US-Iran talks, is pushing new proposals aimed at easing tensions and finding a diplomatic path towards resolving the conflict, according to the Associated Press.

Story continues below this ad

Trump’s war on Iran not ‘necessarily popular’ but needed to stop nuclear threat: Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended President Donald Trump’s decision to launch the war against Iran, saying the move was aimed at protecting the world from Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, even if it was not “necessarily popular”.

“He addressed it even though oftentimes the right thing to do for the country — confronting difficult challenges for the security of our country — doing it isn’t necessarily popular, but necessary,” Rubio said in Florida before heading to a Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in Paris.

Trump says Republicans’ midterm election losses linked to Americans’ negative views of Israel

US President Donald Trump has suggested that Americans’ unfavourable views of Israel were among the reasons Republicans performed poorly in last week’s midterm elections. In an interview with 60 Minutes, he offered several explanations for the party’s poor performance in midterms.

“Number one, I was not on the ballot,” Trump said, emphasising that voters didn’t like some of the Republican candidates.

“But there’s something beyond that. They didn’t like the war. They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up,” he added.

“And there’s a great dislike — incredibly — for Israel,” Trump says, without elaborating.