White House Envoy Witkoff met last weekend with the UAE's national security adviser to discuss next steps on Iran, according to Axios

• "One of the officials said a special message was sent to U.S. diplomatic posts in Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Hong Kong, Doha, London, Berlin and several Central Asian capitals. The missive instructed them to demand that their host governments shut down all branches of Iran's Melli and Saderat banks that are affiliated with the IRGC."

Track-two diplomacy of this kind, a senior envoy meeting Gulf counterparts on Iran, has historically run on two parallel rails: back-channel contact on one side, coercive pressure on the other, and the two tend to move together rather than as alternatives. The instruction to diplomatic posts to press host governments on shutting Melli and Saderat branches affiliated with the IRGC fits the established pattern of financial isolation that precedes or accompanies negotiation, tightening the squeeze while channels stay open. These two banks have been recurring targets of sanctions pressure over multiple episodes, and the cable covering Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Doha, Hong Kong and European capitals signals a broad compliance push rather than a bilateral one. What distinguishes such episodes in the past is whether pressure and talks converge toward a framework or the track collapses into escalation, and the tell has usually been whether follow-on meetings are scheduled promptly and whether the targeted third countries actually act on the demand. The watch items are official confirmation, any Iranian response through its own proxies or nuclear steps, and whether the UAE and Oman, the traditional intermediaries, are relaying messages rather than merely hosting.