Qatar Hands Iran New War-Ending Deal Draft
Under the new draft, Iran would address US concerns within seven days, as there were fears before the Sunday Tehran meeting that Netanyahu might resume strikes on Iran this week
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Qatari mediators presented Iran on Sunday with a new draft agreement to end the US-Israeli war against the country, and Tehran is studying it and is expected to send a response by the end of this week, an official familiar with the negotiations told Reuters on Wednesday.
The source told Reuters that under the new draft agreement, Iran would address American concerns within seven days. The source added that there were fears before the Sunday meeting in Tehran that Israeli PM Netanyahu might resume attacks on Iran this week.
The Reuters report represents the most concrete single update on the US-Iran negotiation track since Araghchi received Washington's counterproposal in late September and returned to Tehran to review it. A new Qatari draft presented on Sunday, with an Iranian response expected by the end of the week, places the negotiation at its most active and time-sensitive point since the June memorandum of understanding collapsed.
The timing is critical. The November 3 US midterm elections are six days away. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the US has warned Gulf states to prepare for a short and intense post-election military campaign against Iran and that Trump is leaning toward a large post-election strike. Trump has publicly said a development regarding Iran is expected very soon. The existence of a new Qatari draft with a week-long response window means Tehran's answer is expected to arrive before or just after Election Day.
The Sunday Tehran meeting referenced in the Reuters source's statement is the same quadrilateral security summit of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Türkiye that Iran's Supreme National Security Council described as an Iranian initiative aimed at building regional security. The presence of fears that Netanyahu might resume strikes this week before that meeting took place adds an additional dimension to the summit's purpose: it was not only a regional security initiative but also a diplomatic firebreak against imminent military escalation.
Under the new draft, Iran addressing American concerns within seven days mirrors the structure of Iran's own seven-day Hormuz reopening proposal delivered through Qatar in September, suggesting the framework of a sequential confidence-building timeline remains the basis of the negotiation even if the specific conditions have been revised.