Iran Sends Gharibabadi to Doha for Indirect US Talks

Iran has dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi to Doha to move forward its indirect channel of messages with the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei announced. The trip follows a Saturday phone call between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which Iran was among the subjects discussed, Arutz Sheva reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that the contacts run through Qatari mediators are advancing, but that Tehran and Washington have not closed a deal.

"Consultations with the mediators regarding the two-day plan are continuing and moving toward implementation, but we have not yet reached a definitive conclusion," Araghchi said.

Araghchi said the delegation, led by a deputy foreign minister, went to Qatar to pick up discussions with the mediators who had come to Tehran in the preceding weeks. The visit, he stressed, was not meant to include direct negotiations with American officials.

"Reaching a conclusion depends on the answers the other side provides to our questions," Araghchi added. He said Iran stood ready for diplomacy or for military defense, depending on Washington's "rationality."

The current round opened on Friday in Tehran, where Iranian officials and a Qatari delegation talked for more than 12 hours. The Iranian side then traveled to Doha on Saturday. An official briefed on the discussions told Reuters that Iranian negotiators were in the Qatari capital on Sunday for a third consecutive day of talks with the mediators.

Reports differ on whether Americans will join. The Qatari daily Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, citing unnamed sources, reported on Saturday that "an American delegation will join the talks in Doha to conduct direct negotiations with the Iranian delegation," without giving a date. A source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that Qatari officials were in constant touch with the Americans, but would not confirm that a US delegation was on its way.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed also reported early understandings covering the Iranian nuclear file, maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and a package of economic benefits for Tehran. In its account, China and Russia would stand behind the agreement as guarantors.

Iranian boats on the Strait (Photo: IRNA)

Saudi channels Al Arabiya and Al Hadath said they had obtained a draft proposal under discussion by the mediators. Neither Iran, the United States nor Qatar has confirmed it. As described by the channels, the draft contains:

An initial Iranian commitment on the future of its nuclear stockpile
Talks on arrangements to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days
Daily discussions between Iran and the United States on confidence-building measures
An agreed timetable for both countries to carry out their commitments
A possible role for China as guarantor of any agreement

"Every Iranian action concerning its nuclear program will be met with a corresponding U.S. action concerning sanctions," the channels reported, adding that "neither Iran nor the United States will be required to make concessions without receiving a corresponding commitment."

The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar reported that Iran has no objection to reciprocal commitments on reopening Hormuz and lifting the naval blockade. Tehran's reservations, according to the paper, center on the nuclear clause, under which International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors would gain access to Iranian nuclear facilities in return for partial sanctions relief and the release of some frozen Iranian assets.

Trump said on Sunday that the conflict would be settled soon, one way or another. "We've had such a victory and we'll put it away very soon, one way or the other. Either they'll make a deal or we'll just end it, end it the, I guess you could say, maybe the easy way," he said.

Gharibabadi has spoken publicly about messages from Washington before. In July, he claimed that the US had passed word through Omani intermediaries that it would not take military action against Iran.