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Qatari mediators have presented Iran with a new draft deal to \u200bend the war with the US and Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations said, but a senior Iranian official said Doha had only put \u200cforward unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.<\/strong><\/p>\n The official briefed on the negotiations, who is not from Iran, said a new draft peace proposal for the eight-month-old conflict was presented on Sunday and was being considered by Tehran, with a response expected by the end of the week.<\/span><\/p>\n Qatar, along with Pakistan, has led mediation to end the war, which has disrupted global shipping \u200band oil supplies and recently spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.<\/span><\/p>\n The proposal presented by Qatar sets a seven-day timeline addressing both Tehran\u2019s and Washington\u2019s concerns, laying \u200bout daily confidence-building steps that each side must take, the official briefed on the negotiations said. The timeline could begin early \u2060next week and several countries would act as guarantors of the deal, the official added.<\/span><\/p>\n Shortly afterwards, a senior Iranian official involved in the talks said Qatar had presented \u200bonly \u201cunacceptable ideas and not an offer\u201d, and that Tehran\u2019s policy on showing no flexibility over the nuclear issue remained unchanged.<\/span><\/p>\n Washington wants Iran\u2019s decades-long nuclear programme to be part of \u200bnegotiations to end the war from the outset, while Iran says its conditions \u2014 which include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil exports \u2014 must be met first. Iran rejects Western concerns that its nuclear programme is military in nature.<\/span><\/p>\n In late September, Iran presented another seven-day proposal under which Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi \u200bsaid the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world\u2019s most important energy shipping channels, could be reopened if certain conditions were met. US President Donald Trump rejected it, prompting \u200bfurther Qatari mediation.<\/span><\/p>\n The draft discussed in Tehran on Sunday was different from that proposal, the official briefed on the negotiations said, though the details of the latest plan were not immediately clear. \u200cThe official \u2060had previously told Reuters that the Qatari mediators had coordinated with Washington before going to Tehran.<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier mediation efforts to end the war that the US and Israel launched on February 28 helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, but it quickly unravelled.<\/span><\/p>\n In recent weeks, Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthi forces have launched repeated attacks against Saudi Arabia \u2014 a key US ally and the world\u2019s largest crude exporter \u2014 opening a new front in the eight-month-old war.<\/span><\/p>\n Oil prices rose more than 1% to more than $115 per barrel on Wednesday \u200bafter a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia\u2019s \u200blargest oil refinery, Ras Tanura, stoking concerns over \u2060supply risks.<\/span><\/p>\n Fighting with the Houthis intensified last month as the militant group advanced against Saudi-backed forces towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another important shipping lane on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula from Hormuz.<\/span><\/p>\n The official briefed on \u200bthe negotiations said there were concerns ahead of Sunday\u2019s meeting in Tehran that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fighting for \u200banother term in a general election, \u2060could resume attacks on the Islamic Republic this week.<\/span><\/p>\n On Friday, US President Donald Trump repeated threats to strike Iran again, while Iranian security officials told Reuters Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the US and Israel resumed attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n On Monday, top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan also met Iranian officials in Tehran as part of \u2060de-escalation efforts. \u200bQatar said on Tuesday that Iran needs to stop threats against Arab Gulf states and open the \u200bStrait of Hormuz to show good intentions for mediation efforts to succeed.<\/span><\/p>\nATTACK ON SAUDI OIL REFINERY<\/span><\/h2>\n
CONCERNS ABOUT RISK OF NEW STRIKES<\/span><\/h2>\n