Iranupdated 25m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 27 April 2026Iran’s Abbas Araghchi Says Mediators Stalled After US Midterm Election “Shock”
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No progress in Tehran-Washington talks since US midterm results. Mediation efforts paused as midterm shock delays negotiations, Iran says.
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Talks paused after midterms
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said mediators have not traveled at all since the “shock” of the US midterm elections, and Tehran is waiting to see whether Washington’s position changes. Araghchi told state TV, “We now have to see how long it will take for them to digest these results, in order to determine how we are going to move forward,” as he described no progress in talks with the US.
Araghchi also said it would “take some time before the atmosphere is favorable for the resumption of mediator travel” and called for patience. Araghchi added that “For the past few days, there has been no more travel (by mediators), and the reason for this is the shock that the election results in the United States have caused to everyone.”
Iran’s demands and threats
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV that he called on Washington to accept previously articulated Iranian demands or “choose war, and see our alert and battle-hardened warriors rain down hell.”
Araghchi said he posted on X, “American voters have made their choice. Time for the White House to make its own.”
Araghchi said Iran continues efforts to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, while the US Navy maintains its own counterblockade of Iranian ports.
Araghchi said Iran proposed a seven-day plan in September to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Mediation push and nuclear file
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the region “can no longer bear another round of tension and escalation of hostilities” and urged continued dialogue after the midterm elections. Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, “We cannot wait until we reach an ideal agreement; we hope to reach a good agreement.”
“We cannot wait until we reach an ideal agreement; we hope to reach a good agreement.”
Separately, an Iranian official told Al-Monitor that Iran’s nuclear program is “being reviewed and discussed by intermediaries,” while the New York Times reported Iranian officials are examining “specific proposals” presented by intermediaries. The proposal described in the reporting would shorten an initial confidence-building period from 60 days to two days so nuclear negotiations could begin without delay, with easing the US naval blockade and releasing part of Iran’s blocked assets on the agenda and Iran cooperating with IAEA inspectors and reopening the Hormuz Strait.