Qatar Presents New Draft Deal to Iran as Tehran Dismisses It as Not an Offer

Doha, Qatar. Qatari mediators have handed Iran a new draft deal aimed at ending the war with the US and Israel, according to an official briefed on the talks, while a senior Iranian official said Doha had offered nothing acceptable.

Draft under consideration in Tehran

The official, who is not from Iran, said the new draft peace proposal for the eight-month-old conflict was delivered on Sunday. Tehran is considering it, and a response is expected by the end of the week. The official had earlier told Reuters that the Qatari mediators coordinated with Washington before travelling to Tehran.

Related: Qatar gives Iran new draft deal to end war; Tehran official says it is not an offer

RelatedQatar gives Iran new draft deal to end war; Tehran official says it is not an offer

According to the official, the proposal sets a seven-day timeline that addresses the concerns of both Tehran and Washington. It lays out confidence-building steps that each side must take every day. The timeline could start early next week, and several countries would serve as guarantors. The details of the latest plan were not immediately clear, but the official said it differs from an earlier Iranian proposal.

Iran’s response

Soon afterwards, a senior Iranian official involved in the talks said Qatar had put forward only “unacceptable ideas and not an offer”. The official added that Tehran’s policy of showing no flexibility on the nuclear issue had not changed.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that Tehran remained in close contact with intermediaries, reviewing ideas that could secure implementation of Iran’s own seven-day proposal to end the war in the Middle East. He said Iran was still giving diplomacy a chance and that its plan could be carried out in under a week.

Background to the mediation

Qatar and Pakistan have led mediation efforts in a war that has disrupted global shipping and oil supplies and has recently spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

In late September, Iran put forward its seven-day proposal. Araqchi said it could allow the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping channels, to reopen if certain conditions were met. US President Donald Trump rejected it, which led to further Qatari mediation.

Points of dispute

Washington wants Iran’s decades-long nuclear programme included in negotiations from the start. Iran says its own conditions must be met first, including an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil exports. Iran rejects Western concerns that its nuclear programme is military in nature.