An official familiar with the negotiations said Qatar presented a new draft proposal in Tehran on Sunday. Iran was reviewing the plan and was expected to respond by the end of the week.
Qatar and Pakistan have led mediation efforts to end the eight-month conflict, which has disrupted global shipping and oil supplies and recently spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
The Qatari proposal outlines a seven-day timeline for addressing concerns raised by both Tehran and Washington. It includes daily confidence-building measures that both sides would be expected to take. Several countries would act as guarantors, and the process could begin early next week, the official said.
However, a senior Iranian official involved in the talks said the proposals were unacceptable and did not constitute a formal offer. The official added that Iran’s position on its nuclear programme remained unchanged.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that Tehran remained in close contact with mediators to discuss proposals that could support the implementation of Iran’s own seven-day plan to end the war in the Middle East.
He said Iran was continuing to give diplomacy a chance, adding that its proposed plan could be implemented in less than a week.
The United States wants Iran’s long-standing nuclear programme to be included in negotiations from the outset. Iran, however, says its conditions must be met first, including an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of sanctions on its oil exports.
Tehran rejects Western concerns that its nuclear programme is intended for military purposes.
Attack on Saudi oil refinery
Iran presented its own seven-day proposal in late September. Araqchi said the plan could allow the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes, to reopen if certain conditions were met.
US President Donald Trump rejected the proposal, prompting Qatar to intensify its mediation efforts.
The latest draft discussed in Tehran on Sunday differed from Iran’s earlier plan, the official said. Details of the new proposal were not immediately available. The official had previously told Reuters that Qatari mediators had coordinated with Washington before travelling to Tehran.
Earlier diplomatic efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, following the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28. However, the agreement quickly broke down.
In recent weeks, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces have repeatedly attacked Saudi Arabia, a key US ally and the world’s largest crude oil exporter, opening another front in the conflict.
Oil prices rose by more than 1% to above $115 a barrel on Wednesday after a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery, Ras Tanura, raised concerns about potential disruptions to global supplies.
Fighting involving the Houthis intensified last month as the group advanced against Saudi-backed forces towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another major shipping route on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz.
Fears of renewed attacks
The official familiar with the negotiations said there were concerns before Sunday’s meeting in Tehran that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could resume attacks on Iran this week while campaigning for another term in a general election.
On Friday, Trump repeated his threats to strike Iran again. Iranian security officials told Reuters that Tehran had prepared detailed plans to target undersea cables in the Gulf if the US and Israel resumed their attacks.
On Monday, senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran as part of efforts to reduce tensions.
Qatar said on Tuesday that Iran needed to stop threatening Arab Gulf states and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to demonstrate its commitment to mediation efforts.
Gulf states faced sustained bombardment earlier in the war.
The conflict has also reignited fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the war has affected Trump’s approval ratings ahead of the US midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.
