Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday to push for an agreement between the United States and Iran, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters. The official said the mediation visit had been coordinated with the United States. No member of the Qatari team was named in the report, and none of the three governments had confirmed the trip on the record.
It was Doha’s second move in less than a week. On Sunday, Qatar presented Iran with a draft peace plan, according to an official briefed on the negotiations. A senior Iranian official dismissed the proposals as unacceptable and said Tehran would maintain its position on the nuclear issue.
The two sides still disagree on what should come first. Washington wants Iran’s nuclear program included from the start of any negotiations. Tehran demands that the United States first end its blockade of Iranian ports and lift the sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said on Wednesday that Tehran remained in close contact with the intermediaries. He said Iran was reviewing ideas that could help put into practice its own seven-day proposal, which Tehran says is aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.
Reports based on the Reuters account said a process under the mediation could begin early next week, with several countries acting as guarantors of any agreement. That detail has not been confirmed by any government, and no deal has been announced.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Vice President JD Vance’s recent outreach to Iran concerned medical supplies. His comment followed U.S. media reports that linked the outreach to efforts to revive the peace talks. The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance had sent a letter to Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei, and an Iranian security source said on Thursday that Tehran had yet to respond to the message.
Qatar has long acted as a go-between for Washington and Tehran, and its envoys have made repeated trips during the war. What is not yet known is whom the mediators will meet in Tehran this time, how long they will stay, or whether either side is ready to move from its stated position.
For now, the positions remain far apart, and Friday’s visit is a step in a negotiation, not an agreement. Any deal would still need both capitals to give ground on the order of the steps: sanctions relief and the blockade first, says Tehran; the nuclear file first, says Washington.
