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US-Iran Talks Continue Through Mediators as Trump Warns of Remaining Targets

Elena MarquezPublished 4m ago3 min readBased on 18 sources
US-Iran Talks Continue Through Mediators as Trump Warns of Remaining Targets
Image by jpdvg from Pixabay

US President Donald Trump said the latest negotiations with Iran were "going fine," while adding that the United States still had several Iranian targets to "take care of." The remarks, reported by Al Jazeera on November 1, came as go-between governments kept working to bring the two sides closer.

The talks are taking place against the background of a war that began in February with action by the United States and Israel. An earlier June memorandum of understanding, a written framework for talks, was brokered with key roles played by Qatar and Pakistan, but it collapsed in August. Trump has repeatedly suggested the United States could attack Iran after the midterm elections on November 3.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a delegation that included one of his aides had travelled to Doha to meet Qatari mediators. He said Qatari officials had first gone to Tehran for consultations. Reuters, citing an official briefed on the talks, reported that Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on October 30 as part of efforts to reach a deal.

According to Araghchi, the Doha discussions centred on a plan that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route in the Gulf, within two days. Under the plan, peace talks with the United States would restart if Washington met Tehran's demands. Those demands, as Araghchi described them, include:

  • lifting recently imposed US sanctions, the economic penalties Washington has placed on Iran;
  • reinstating oil waivers, or formal exemptions, granted in June;
  • reducing the US military presence in the region;
  • recognising new shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz designated by Iran and Oman;
  • ending the conflict on all fronts, including Israel's attacks on Lebanon.

Araghchi said Qatari and Pakistani mediators were continuing consultations on Iran's conditions. Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has visited Tehran several times as part of the mediation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Qatar-led talks with Iran were ongoing, but said he was not aware of a timeframe for them. He said talks had never stopped and that the United States would be open to a diplomatic solution. Trump said he was "not in that much of a hurry" to reach a peace deal, and said Iran wanted to make a deal with the United States. He also described Iran as "not very reliable," claiming it makes a deal and then backs out. Separately, Trump said the United States could strike Iran's remaining nuclear sites within 10 minutes.

Araghchi said Iran's military was more prepared than ever for renewed war. Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened that Iran would use "new weaponry" in response to any future attack.

Earlier in the week, US Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Rezaei seeking to gauge prospects for restarting negotiations and averting military escalation. Rezaei confirmed he had read the letter and said its tone had changed completely compared with earlier correspondence from Trump. Araghchi said he had studied the letter and described it positively.

Reuters reported on October 31 that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had ordered Iran's armed forces to prepare an immediate response. The same report said Qatari mediators had proposed a seven-day trust-building plan between Washington and Tehran, according to an official.

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