Oil tanker traffic passing through the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz has become the focus of a US-Iranian standoff since Washington pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions to strangle Tehran's oil exports.

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After explosions that damaged six oil tankers in May and June and Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in July, the United States launched a maritime security mission in the Gulf, joined by Britain in an effort to protect merchant vessels.

Zarif, in interview remarks cited by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, said that the Strait "is narrow, it will become less safe as foreign [navy] vessels increase their presence in it."

"The region has become a matchbox ready to ignite because America and its allies are flooding it with weapons," he said.

Zarif, who arrived on Sunday in Doha, met on Monday with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani for talks to convey that message, Iranian state-run media reported.

Qatar, which hosts one of the biggest US military bases in the Middle East, is trying not to be drawn into the escalating conflict between Washington and Tehran.

Iraq, which maintains good relations with both Washington and Tehran, cautioned on Monday that the deployment of Western forces was fueling regional tensions.

"The states of the Gulf can together secure the transit of ships," Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim said on Twitter.

"Iraq is seeking to reduce tension in our region through calm negotiations. … The presence of Western forces in the region will increase tension," he said.

Last month, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the British tanker Stena Impero near the Strait for alleged marine violations, two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar, accusing it of violating sanctions on Syria.

The tanker dispute has tangled Britain in the diplomatic dispute between the EU's big powers – which want to preserve the Iran nuclear deal – and the United States which has pushed for a tougher policy on Iran.

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The weekly magazine Seda was handed a suspension order Saturday by a court in Tehran, the reformist newspaper Arman reported.

Seda's most recent front page had shown a U.S. aircraft carrier fleet and the caption "At the crossroads between war and peace."

The magazine called for "high-level engagement" between the U.S. and Iran, warning that closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, an occasional Iranian threat, would lead to "widespread war."

A third of all oil traded by sea passes through the strait, which lies at the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Recent U.S. military deployments to the Persian Gulf, including an aircraft carrier strike group, have raised tensions with Iran. Tehran has also begun setting its own deadlines over its unraveling nuclear deal that President Donald Trump pulled America out of a year ago.

The hard-line Iranian newspaper Kayhan criticized Seda's reporting as parroting the "voice of Trump through the mouths of reformists."

Also Sunday, Iran's parliament held a closed session to discuss recent developments in the Persian Gulf, state TV reported. The head of the elite Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, spoke about the increased U.S. military presence, but the broadcast did not give specific details.

After the session, a prominent lawmaker said Salami had assured parliament that Iran's military is strong enough to deter any U.S. threats, which Salami called "psychological warfare."

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, who heads the influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, told the official IRNA news agency that Iran isn't looking to deepen the crisis. He said the U.S. position will weaken with time, and that there are currently no grounds for negotiations with Washington.

On Friday, Iran rejected a request by Trump for talks, after the president said he'd like Iranian leaders to "call me."

John Bolton, Trump's hawkish national security adviser, announced the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group on May 5 over "troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" that still have not been specified. Iran's Shiite theocracy views the presence of U.S. forces ringing its country with suspicion.

The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

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