Iranian envoys hold Doha talks with Qatari mediators as Rubio says Trump has yet to decide on new Iran strikes
Iranian negotiators met Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump has not decided on new strikes against Iran and prefers a diplomatic solution, as Tehran ruled out a direct meeting for now and set out its conditions.
Iranian negotiators held talks in Doha on Saturday with Qatari mediators about possible paths out of the Gulf war, a source briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, as diplomats worked to avert a fresh outbreak of fighting after the United States midterm elections this week. The meeting in the Qatari capital came at a moment of acute uncertainty, with Washington yet to decide whether to resume military action against Iran and Tehran publicly ruling out a direct meeting with American officials for now.
The Saturday talks followed more than 12 hours of discussions on Friday between Iranian and Qatari envoys in Tehran, according to the same source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The sequence of meetings in two capitals within two days underlines how intensively Qatar, which has acted as a go-between throughout the crisis, is trying to keep a diplomatic channel open even as the threat of renewed strikes hangs over the region.
In Atlanta, where he was hosting foreign ministers of the G20 major economies, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that President Donald Trump had not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran. Rubio said Trump would prefer to resolve the conflict diplomatically, while insisting that Washington retained the military capacity to act if it chose to do so.
“He hasn't made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly,” Rubio told a news conference, adding that Trump “would prefer to solve it diplomatically”. He declined to set a timeframe for the Qatar-led talks and would not characterise their progress, saying only that direct and indirect contacts with Iran were under way. “There are multiple talks. Talks have actually never stopped,” he said.
The timing matters because Trump has held off on strikes on Iran in recent weeks ahead of elections in which his Republicans are trying to retain control of Congress. The midterms fall on Tuesday, and countries across the region have been anticipating that he could restart attacks once the voting is over, a prospect that has kept Gulf capitals, shipping firms and energy markets on edge. The war began in February with United States and Israeli strikes on Iran and has now lasted eight months.
On the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi gave an interview to Al Jazeera on Saturday in which he described a recent American outreach effort as a “positive step” while firmly playing down talk of an imminent meeting with Washington. He confirmed that a letter from United States Vice President JD Vance had been reviewed in high-level meetings in Tehran, and said an Iranian delegation had travelled to Doha, where one of his aides was continuing consultations with the mediators.
Araghchi was blunt about the state of play. “Currently, there are no plans for meetings with American officials, and any speculation to the contrary is merely media assumption,” he said, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. “Under current circumstances, Iran sees no necessity for a meeting with the Americans; Iran's conditions are clear, and consultations regarding them are ongoing among mediators.” He warned that Washington would be committing a new error if the letter's objective was to sow discord or create divisions.
He set out Tehran's conditions in detail. They include recognition of a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz that Iran says it worked out with Oman, with other routes closed; the lifting of sanctions imposed after the Islamabad memorandum of understanding; a reduction in United States military forces in the region; the restoration of waivers for Iranian oil exports; and the release of all frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar. Araghchi said mediators had also presented proposals on the nuclear dossier, which Tehran was reviewing as part of what he described as a second phase, and that any decision on whether talks with Washington would be direct or indirect would come only after its conditions were met.
The diplomatic flurry unfolded against a backdrop of military warnings on both sides. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement on Saturday ordering the armed forces to be prepared to respond to any attacks, a day after Tehran had already warned of a far-reaching response to any new American or Israeli strike. Rubio, for his part, said the United States could achieve its military objectives if it sought to, while stressing that the preference in Washington was for a peaceful outcome.
The stakes extend well beyond the negotiating table. The Strait of Hormuz, which carries a large share of the world's seaborne oil, has seen a string of tanker attacks and mine incidents in recent weeks, and Gulf states have repeatedly urged restraint and a return to normal navigation. Saturday's developments therefore matter not only for the two principal adversaries but for the shipping, energy and security of the entire region, which would bear the immediate costs of any return to open warfare.
What happens next now turns on several moving parts. The first is Tuesday's midterm vote and whatever decision Trump takes once it has passed. The second is whether the Qatari-mediated consultations in Doha can narrow the gap between Tehran's stated conditions and Washington's demands, including on the nuclear programme. And the third is whether the fragile pause in fighting holds while those talks continue. None of those outcomes is settled, but Saturday's meetings and statements show that, for now, both sides are still talking through intermediaries even as they prepare publicly for the possibility that diplomacy fails.
