Qatari mediators carry a draft deal to Tehran, but Iran sees no narrowing of the distance with Washington
According to a Qatari newspaper the United States approved an interim agreement, while Iran wants its own conditions met first.
Qatari mediators travelled to Tehran on Monday evening with a version of a draft agreement between the United States and Iran that has been under negotiation for about eight days, Reuters reports. Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry, said both sides were studying the proposals and that answers were expected within about 36 hours. A senior Iranian official told Reuters the two countries remain far from a deal and that there is no deadline. According to Al Jazeera, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had given the government certain powers to conduct the talks.
The Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports, citing anonymous sources, that Washington has approved the draft of a memorandum, as have Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, writes Pakistan Today. Iran would then announce a concession on its nuclear programme at the same moment as the United States releases part of Iran's frozen assets. This has not been officially confirmed. Tehran insists that oil sanctions, the US naval blockade and the freeze on assets must go before the Strait of Hormuz reopens, and that nuclear talks can only begin after that.
On election day Trump did not rule out resuming US strikes after the vote, but said according to Reuters that there might be no reason to. In the strait itself tensions persist: the navy of the Revolutionary Guards claims three tankers hit mines and caught fire after taking unauthorised shipping lanes, and says it shot down a US MQ-9 drone, Pakistan Today reports, citing the Tasnim agency. The oil price, which fell more than 7 percent on Monday, rose by about a dollar on Tuesday.