Qataris In Tehran To Collect Iran’s Reply
Al Hadath sources say Iranian leaders urged military bodies to engage with Doha’s de-escalation proposal, while Iranian assessments see a return to war as the most likely scenario
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - A Qatari delegation went to Tehran only to receive Iran’s response to Doha’s de-escalation proposal, and not for further discussion.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi advised Iran’s military entities to engage with the Qatari proposal.
Iranian officials prefer direct, in-person meetings with mediators for security reasons. They added that political entities inside Iran are pressing for de-escalation with the US. Even so, Iranian assessments suggest that a return to war has become the most likely scenario, the sources said. Kurdistan 24 could not independently verify these claims.
The account fits the diplomacy on the record. A Qatari delegation traveled to Tehran on Monday night for talks with Araghchi on a potential US-Iran deal, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters. It was the third visit in a week and was led by an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, The New Arab reported, citing an Iranian source. The talks concern a version of the draft US-Iran deal that has been under negotiation for eight days, the official told Reuters. On Tuesday Ghalibaf said Iran had given Washington a strong and rational response and that the ball is in Washington’s court to prevent war. Araghchi said on Monday that indirect consultations through Qatar and Pakistan had become “extremely intensive,” and warned that deception or military operations would draw a harsher response than before.
The latest on negotiations: Araghchi said on Sunday that talks on a “two-day proposal,” under which the Strait of Hormuz could reopen within two days of an agreement with Washington, were continuing but had not reached a definitive conclusion. Iran’s earlier plan had envisaged seven days. Iran says Washington must first lift its naval blockade and meet Tehran’s demands.
President Donald Trump wrote on Monday that a deal “could happen” and that Iran wants a settlement as soon as possible. He has said the US would not launch new attacks before the midterm election on Tuesday, but has not ruled out military action afterward. Reuters reported on Friday that a senior Iranian official had called Qatar’s initial proposal unacceptable, and The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Vice President JD Vance had reached out to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, to open direct talks without mediators.
The latest military incidents: US forces carried out limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday, which US officials called defensive responses to Iranian fire at US aircraft, according to The Wall Street Journal. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they shot down US drones near the island, a claim not independently confirmed. Gulf officials have told media that US strikes on Iran could come as early as November 4, and Trump has threatened Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain site if there is no deal.
Inside Iran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that one member of the Iranian army’s ground forces was killed and another wounded in a terrorist attack in the country’s southeast. The report did not say who carried it out, and no group had claimed it when Kurdistan 24 checked.
The southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan has seen a surge of armed attacks on security forces. On Monday, gunmen attacked a school used as a military base in Konarak County, where a rights group, Haalvsh, said at least seven members of the Iran-backed Afghan Fatemiyoun militia were killed, while Tasnim said Jaish al-Adl had tried to attack army personnel and security forces killed one attacker. On Tuesday, Fars news agency reported that a police officer was killed in an attack in Saravan, which it called terrorist.