DOHA — Iranian negotiators have left talks with Qatari mediators aimed at ending the war with the United States, and a draft proposal is being circulated with a follow-up meeting possible, an official briefed on the talks said on Monday, Reuters reported. The negotiators departed on Sunday, though not because of difficulties in the negotiations, the official said, without providing further details on the draft proposal. The departure is the newest development in the indirect Doha process Awaaz Punjab reported on Sunday, when Iranian and Qatari officials held a third straight day of talks and oil prices slipped on hopes of a deal.
Source: Reuters, Nov 2
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the basis of the talks is a seven-step plan Iran drew up in September to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the US naval blockade on Iran, with Tehran now suggesting that proposal could be implemented on a faster timeline under a deal. Baghaei said Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi had been in Doha to facilitate the exchange of messages with Washington via Qatari intermediaries — the indirect format Tehran has insisted on, with no direct meeting with a US delegation.
Source: Reuters, Nov 2
What Tehran wants, and what Washington has not answered
On Saturday, Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera quoted Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying that under a deal the Strait of Hormuz could be opened within a two-day timeline rather than within the seven days originally envisaged. Iran's initial proposal was rejected by US President Donald Trump. Tehran's conditions, as Araqchi set them out to Al Jazeera, include lifting recently imposed US sanctions, reinstating oil waivers, reducing the American military presence in the region, recognising new shipping routes designated by Iran and Oman, and ending the conflict on all fronts, including Israel's attacks on Lebanon. Washington has not publicly confirmed acceptance of those conditions.
Source: Reuters; Al Jazeera via Zot News, Nov 2
The talks have run through Qatari mediation since Friday, after Qatari officials travelled to Tehran, and reporting on the third day said Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Trump had not made a final decision on new strikes and preferred a diplomatic resolution, while Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered the armed forces on Saturday to remain prepared to respond to any attack.
Source: Reuters via InsideOjodu, Nov 2
Awaaz Punjab reported the third straight day of Iran-Qatar talks on Sunday, when oil slipped more than 1% as Brent ended October at a six-month high and hopes of a deal rose. Read the third-day talks report
What is solid
- Iranian negotiators left Doha on Sunday and a draft proposal is being circulated, with a follow-up meeting possible — an official briefed on the talks told Reuters on Monday.
- Tehran says the basis is its seven-step September plan to reopen Hormuz and end the US naval blockade, and that the timeline could now be faster than the seven days originally envisaged.
What is only claimed
- No details of the draft proposal have been made public, Washington has not publicly answered Tehran's conditions, and Iran's initial proposal was rejected by President Trump — so a circulating draft is a step in the process, not a deal.
What happens next: a follow-up meeting is possible, and the draft now sits between the mediators and the two capitals ahead of Tuesday's US midterm elections. For the Gulf — home to lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers — and for oil, shipping and remittances worldwide, whether the Hormuz timeline moves from talk to an actual reopening is the number that matters: the strait is the chokepoint whose closure has kept energy prices elevated through the eight-month war.
Source: Reuters, Nov 2