A third day of indirect talks in Doha
Indirect negotiations in Doha stretched into a third day on Sunday, with Qatar working to arrange the release of more than $6bn in Iranian assets. That step, if agreed, could clear the way for the strait of Hormuz to reopen and for talks on Iran's nuclear programme to resume. The United Arab Emirates envoy Anwar Gargash said a further round of escalation would serve neither Iran nor its neighbours.[S1][S3][S4]
Gargash said relations with Iran were essential because Iran is a neighbour, and that the Emirates did not want to see it drawn into a prolonged crisis. He also said the Gulf was braced for the worst, as it had shown before. His remarks came as officials from Gulf states waited for Washington's response to the Iranian proposal, which Tehran hopes could reopen the strait before the US midterm elections on Tuesday.[S1][S5]
Qatar's plan to compress the timetable
To work around the distrust on both sides, Qatar has concentrated on a plan that compresses the sequence in which the US lifts sanctions, Iran reopens the strait of Hormuz and nuclear talks begin. Iran has agreed to shorten that timetable from seven days to two. The mediation continued even after unidentified missiles struck a Pakistan-bound Qatari LNG tanker near the strait on Friday, despite the vessel having received direct clearance and safe-passage approval from Tehran hours earlier.[S1]
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Iran's conditions and Washington's signals
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he hoped Washington would choose diplomacy over other paths, describing Iran as ready for both defence and diplomacy depending on US rationality. He said no direct talks with Washington were currently planned. Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said Iran had offered to open the strait within two days of the US lifting its blockade on oil ships, ceasing to block the release of Iranian assets and ending sanctions on Iranian oil exports.[S1][S7]
On Saturday, Donald Trump stated that American forces had largely destroyed Iran's military capability, though one or two targets remained to be dealt with, while Tehran threatened retaliation in the event of an attack. According to Trump, talks aimed at ending the war — launched by the US and Israel in February — were progressing well, but he characterized the Iranians as unreliable. Secretary of state Marco Rubio had earlier expressed Washington's willingness to pursue a diplomatic path, and Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei revealed he had received a letter from vice-president JD Vance aimed at restarting negotiations.[S1]
Rezaei called the change in the American tone a positive development but noted he had not yet sent a reply. Ali Nikzad, deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, repeated that Tehran would not put its nuclear programme on the table, stating that the Iranian people had resolved to refuse negotiations on the nuclear question regardless of circumstances or pressure, and that earlier openings had brought only broken commitments and unlawful strikes on part of its peaceful nuclear facilities. Rezaei further argued that Trump was being pursued by a conflict with broader global consequences than Vietnam, telling Iranian television that wherever Trump travels he must explain why he launched it.[S1][S8]
