A Qatari delegation landed in Tehran on Friday morning for talks with senior Iranian officials, Iranian state media reported, as mediators tried to restart negotiations between Iran and the United States that have stalled.
Iran’s IRNA news agency said the group is led by a senior adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister. It is expected to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments. Al Jazeera reported that the mediators came to negotiate an agreement ending the US-Iran conflict, an initiative coordinated with Washington.
The visit follows a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday that US Vice President JD Vance had written to Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s security chief, in an effort to revive talks. A senior Iranian official told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Thursday that Tehran had received the message but had not yet answered.
How the talks reached this point
The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and Tehran retaliated with attacks on Israel and on US positions in several Arab countries. A ceasefire took hold on April 7. Washington and Tehran signed a framework agreement in June and began negotiating, but the talks collapsed over freedom and security of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy supplies and trade.
Qatar’s mediators have made this trip before. In mid-June they went to Tehran to help finalize that agreement, which offered a 60-day framework for technical discussions on harder issues such as Iran’s nuclear program and frozen assets, according to Pakistani and regional officials. Pakistan had led the months of negotiations.
Iran’s conditions
Qatari mediators were also in Tehran the previous Sunday, Reuters reported, citing an official briefed on the situation. Abbas Gouzardi, spokesman for the speaker of Iran’s parliament, told the ISNA news agency that talks with Washington would serve no purpose for now. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced its seven conditions, and until these conditions are met negotiations will be meaningless,” he said.
Gouzardi dismissed President Donald Trump’s recent warnings of further attacks as “boasting with the aim of threatening”. He also accused the United States of trying to strip Iran of its nuclear capacity and of control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, speaking to Fox News, framed the choice in blunt terms. “I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That’s all,” he said. He has suggested strikes could resume after the November 3 midterm elections, and he has sent more forces toward the Persian Gulf, including a third aircraft carrier group.
Sources
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Sources
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