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World

US and Iran return to indirect diplomacy as Qatari mediators open separate talks

Qatari mediators are holding separate talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York and the US side, officials say, as Washington and Tehran return to indirect diplomacy days after President Trump rejected Iran's seven-day ceasefire proposal.

By Sarah Whitfield · · 2 min read

Qatari mediators are holding separate talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York and with the US side on Monday and Tuesday, in a renewed push to end seven months of war, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

The talks are expected to focus on an amended version of a seven-day proposal Iran presented last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the official said on condition of anonymity. Araghchi has remained in New York after the General Assembly; it is not clear who is representing the US side.

Iran’s seven-day plan envisages an end to all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon, the unfreezing of billions of dollars of Iranian assets, an end to sanctions on Iranian oil and the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports. Tehran would then allow the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and the two sides would resume talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

President Trump said on Saturday he had rejected Iran’s proposal, arguing Tehran wanted a swift agreement because of the crippling economic pressure it is under. But he told Axios on Sunday that he expected US negotiators to engage in further talks this week, and told reporters on Monday that US representatives had been engaging with mediators. “We are going to win,” he said in the Oval Office. “It is going to go pretty quickly.”

Araghchi said on Sunday that mediators had not formally conveyed a US rejection and that Iran was awaiting Washington’s definitive position. “Our conditions are clear, and any move towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met,” he said.

Iran’s semi-official ISNA agency confirmed Araghchi would meet the mediators on Monday morning New York time, with no US representative present.

Sources

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