Official: Qatari Draft Proposes 7-Day Framework to Build Trust Between Washington and Tehran
Key Facts
A person familiar with the negotiations said Qatari mediators delivered a new draft to Iran on Sunday to end the war, and that Tehran is reviewing it with a response expected before the end of the week. According to the official, the draft proposes a 7-day framework to address Washington’s and Tehran’s concerns through daily confidence-building steps by each side. The official added that several countries would serve as guarantors and that the timetable could begin early next week. But these details do not represent a date announced by Tehran, and the proposed framework concerns confidence-building and addressing concerns, not a confirmed deadline for negotiations to end the war. In a different account, a senior Iranian official said Qatar had presented “unacceptable ideas and not an offer,” leaving the nature of the document disputed among officials.
The Iranian official said Tehran’s policy of refusing to show flexibility on the nuclear file had not changed. Washington has wanted to include Iran’s nuclear program in negotiations to end the war from the outset, Reuters reported. Iran, meanwhile, says the United States must first meet its conditions, including ending the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and lifting sanctions on its oil exports. This divergence puts the sequencing of issues at the heart of the dispute: Washington wants to discuss the nuclear program from the beginning, while Tehran links addressing that issue to meeting its other demands. The two officials did not offer a unified account of whether Qatar had delivered a formal negotiating offer.
Qatar and Pakistan are leading mediation efforts, while the war has disrupted global shipping and oil supplies and recently expanded to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Reuters reported. In a parallel regional move, senior delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in an effort to prevent fighting from resuming, the Associated Press reported. The agency said the four countries agreed to continue talks on expanding cooperation, particularly in regional peace and security. The statement did not specify the date or location of the next meeting. Qatari mediators also traveled to Tehran on Sunday in coordination with the United States as part of efforts to reduce tensions, according to a regional official cited by the agency.
The current efforts follow an interim agreement that Qatar and Pakistan helped secure in June. It was intended to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, end the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and begin broader negotiations on the nuclear program. The agreement quickly collapsed as attacks resumed, the Associated Press reported. Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan said on October 24 that Tehran remained open to talks under the interim agreement mediated by Pakistan. He added that Iran had told Pakistan it was prepared to reopen the strait if Washington lifted its naval blockade. This track again links maritime security in Hormuz to the conditions surrounding the blockade and nuclear negotiations, issues that have resurfaced in the dispute over the current mediation efforts.
Supply risks are reflected in market movements as mediation efforts continue. Oil prices rose by more than 1% to more than $115 a barrel on Wednesday, amid concerns about supply disruptions after a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported. The coverage did not specify that the attack targeted a particular refinery. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Tehran was continuing its contacts with mediators to discuss ideas for implementing an Iranian proposal aimed at ending the war in the Middle East. He said the proposal could be implemented in less than a week if put into effect. This Iranian proposal is a separate track from the Qatari draft cited by the person familiar with the negotiations.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the window for diplomacy had not closed and that messages were being conveyed to the United States through mediators, the Associated Press reported. He added that no Iranian accepts the phrase “complete surrender.” Separately, Qatar welcomed a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding on June 15, saying it addressed outstanding issues, including guaranteeing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and described it as a step toward lasting peace. The expected response date for the new draft remains an expectation attributed to the non-Iranian official familiar with the negotiations: before the end of the week. Based on the available facts, Tehran has not announced a date confirming this timetable or acknowledged that what Qatar presented was a formal offer.