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Qatari mediators have presented Iran with a new draft agreement aimed at ending the war with the United States and Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on Wednesday, October 28. The draft was handed to Tehran on Sunday and sets out a seven-day timeline in which both sides would take daily confidence-building steps addressing each other's concerns.
The timeline could begin as early as next week, with several countries acting as guarantors of any agreement, the official said. Tehran is considering the proposal and is expected to respond by the end of the week. Qatar coordinated with Washington before its mediators travelled to Tehran, according to the official, who is not from Iran.
Tehran's first public response was dismissive. A senior Iranian official involved in the talks told Reuters shortly afterwards that Qatar had presented only "unacceptable ideas and not an offer," and that Iran's policy of showing no flexibility over the nuclear issue remained unchanged.
The nuclear programme is the central sticking point. Washington wants Iran's decades-long nuclear programme to be part of negotiations to end the war from the outset, while Iran says its own conditions must be met first — including an end to the United States 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.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Tuesday after campaign appearances in Texas, said Iran wanted a deal but was dragging out the talks. "It's a question of when do I want to end it," he said, adding that Tehran had wanted to "make a deal" but liked "tapping it along," and suggesting it might be waiting for the November 3 midterm elections — which, he warned, would not help it. He has said any end to the war must come with a clear statement that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
The draft comes against a war that has now run for eight months. The United States and Israel launched the conflict on February 28, disrupting global shipping and oil supplies, and fighting has since spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. An interim peace agreement reached in June quickly unravelled, and Qatar, along with Pakistan, has led the mediation since.
There were concerns ahead of Sunday's meeting in Tehran that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting for another term in a general election, could resume attacks on Iran this week, the official briefed on the negotiations said. Trump repeated threats on Friday to strike Iran again, while Iranian security officials told Reuters that Tehran had drawn up plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the United States and Israel resumed attacks.
Whether the seven days become a path to a lasting settlement or simply a pause before fighting resumes is now the question Tehran's response, expected by the end of the week, will begin to answer.