US-Iran contacts in New York raise hopes of progress on Middle East war
US and Iranian officials communicated through mediators for the first time since a July ceasefire collapsed, but neither side announced a change in position.
New York, United States. The first shuttle contacts between the United States and Iran in months raised hopes on Wednesday of progress towards ending the Middle East war. Neither side set out a change in its position.
Talks through mediators
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. It was their first such contact since an interim ceasefire agreement collapsed in July.
US President Donald Trump said Witkoff and Kushner had held a “very productive meeting” with mediators for Iran, while stressing that the contact was through intermediaries. He said there was momentum towards a deal.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had engaged with the United States through a Qatari mediator in New York. He said Iran had conveyed conditions including an end to the war on all fronts and a halt to US “acts of aggression”.
Some Iranian state media had reported that Araqchi and Witkoff met, but Iranian officials clarified to Reuters that they had not met face to face. Araqchi met Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who has been a main mediator in previous talks.
Positions and the wider war
Earlier, Trump told the UN General Assembly that he had to decide whether to make a deal with Iran or “annihilate” the country. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was due to address the gathering on Wednesday.
The war, launched by Trump alongside Israel in February as “Operation Epic Fury”, has lasted nearly seven months. It has killed thousands of people, disrupted global energy supplies and spread first to Lebanon and, more recently, to Yemen.
The diplomatic opening helped keep oil prices near two-week lows. Brent crude was holding just below $100 a barrel, a threshold it had crossed this month after Houthi fighters in Yemen launched a major offensive and fired into Saudi Arabia.
Trump repeated his assertion that the war could end around November’s US midterm elections, without explaining why. Since diplomacy broke off in July, the sides have repeatedly exchanged fire. Trump has held back from a full resumption of strikes after military commanders advised him that munitions were running low.
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