TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — Iran has set out five conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz within two days and returning to peace talks with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, as Qatari and Pakistani mediators keep working on a deal ahead of the US midterm elections on Tuesday.
An Iranian delegation that included one of Araghchi’s aides held talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday, after Qatari officials visited Tehran. Araghchi said Iran wants the lifting of recently imposed US sanctions, the restoration of oil waivers granted in June, a smaller US military presence in the region, recognition of new shipping lanes in the strait drawn up by Iran and Oman, and an end to fighting on all fronts, including Israel’s strikes on Lebanon. Qatari and Pakistani mediators were “continuing consultations regarding our conditions”, he said.
Pakistan has been a central go-between throughout the war, with Field Marshal Asim Munir travelling to Tehran several times, and Islamabad and Doha helped broker the June memorandum of understanding that collapsed in August. Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei said the US had “indicated its readiness” to accept Tehran’s terms, which Washington has not confirmed.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Qatar-led talks were continuing but that he knew of no timeframe. “There are multiple talks. Talks have actually never stopped,” he said. “If there is a diplomatic solution, we would be open to it.” Vice President JD Vance wrote to Rezaei this week, and Rezaei said the letter’s tone had “completely changed” from earlier messages. Araghchi called it “a positive step”, but warned that if its aim was to stir up discord it would be “yet another mistake”.
Both sides are also preparing for war. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly suggested strikes after the midterms, said on Saturday the talks were “going fine” but “not very reliable”, and that the US still had several Iranian sites to “take care of”, naming a suspected underground nuclear complex known as Pickaxe Mountain. Rubio said Trump had not yet decided on new strikes.
“Our armed forces are more prepared for war than any time before, and we are ready for any scenario,” Araghchi said. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered an immediate response “without geographical limitations” to any new attack, and Rezaei said Iran would use “new weaponry” and that the government was weighing a change to its nuclear doctrine, which currently bans nuclear weapons.
Israel is also preparing for another round of fighting after the US vote, according to a senior Israeli official. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now a caretaker after losing his majority in last week’s election, has spoken of a “historic, one-time opportunity” to remove the Iranian threat “once and for all”.
