Iran says contacts with US over ending war continue

Contacts between Iran and the United States to end their eight-month war are continuing, Tehran ‌said on Monday, after days of Iranian talks with Qatari mediators ended with altered proposals but no breakthrough. “Consultations through mediators are very intensive. We have presented our conditions and proposals and everything depends on the political rationality of Washington,” ​Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in comments carried by state media outlet IRNA.

Amid fears the conflict could reignite after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States, China and Russia both spoke out on Monday against the possibility of renewed military action in a war that has hit the global economy. While oil prices fell nearly 4 per cent on Monday on hopes that the latest round of mediation could lead ​to a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Iranian sources said they believed a new US attack was still more likely than a deal.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the plan Iran had submitted in September to end the ⁠war remained the focus of discussions, but he confirmed comments attributed to Araghchi on Saturday that the proposal could be shortened. “The basis of dialogue and talks between ‌Iran ‌and ​the US via mediators is still Iran’s seven-step proposal, which is now condensed, making it possible to implement it within two days,” he said.

US president Donald Trump rejected the seven-step proposal in September. The plan would call for the US to end its blockade on Iranian ports, Iran to reopen ⁠the Strait of Hormuz waterway, a US waiver on Iranian oil sales, the ​cancellation of new sanctions on Iran and then talks on other issues. Baghaei reiterated that condensing ​the plan would not change Iran’s underlying stance that a return to talks on the country’s nuclear programme could only happen after it verified that all its conditions were met.

Asked whether the possibility ‌of transferring Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to another country was ​raised in the talks, and whether Iran might agree to that, he said no. An official briefed on the talks said Iran’s negotiators had left on Sunday but not because ⁠of any problems in the talks, and added that a draft proposal was ⁠being circulated without elaborating. The war, ​which the US and Israel launched suddenly on February 28th, has led to Iran’s closure of the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, the US blockade on Iranian ports, repeated bouts of Iranian drone and missile fire on Gulf states and renewed conflict in Yemen .

Trump has repeatedly said there would be no new attack on Iran before Tuesday’s midterm elections. Iran has said it will respond to any resumed attack aggressively with plans to strike targets both within and outside the Middle East. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said on Monday that all parties to the conflict should focus on political solutions rather than resorting to arms again, after a meeting with senior Iranian security official Ali Bagheri Kani in Beijing.

China, a major customer for Gulf energy products, is engaging more actively in Middle East diplomacy this week, hosting Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, ‌whose country flanks the southern side of the ⁠Strait of Hormuz. Wang also met Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban in Beijing on Monday, China’s foreign ministry said, adding that all sides should work to safeguard regional energy and shipping lane security.

In Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry said reports of new military action against Iran were a cause for ‌extreme concern and called for increased diplomatic efforts. Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei on Monday, Iranian state media reported. Underscoring the risks to global energy supply, a Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) ​tanker was struck in the Gulf by unidentified objects on Friday, its operator Nakilat said on Sunday.

While attacks on oil tankers in ​the Gulf and Red Sea have been common during the conflict, attacks on LNG carriers have been rare, with the last reported incident with a Qatari tanker happening in early July. – Reuters