Reported by The Guardian
Third day of indirect talks as Qatar tries to negotiate release of $6bn in Iranian assets that could lead to waterway’s reopening
Officials from the Gulf states are “braced for the worst” as they wait for Washington’s response to an Iranian proposal that could reopen the strait of Hormuz before the US midterm elections on Tuesday.
Indirect talks in Doha ran into a third day on Sunday with Qatar trying to negotiate the release of more than $6bn in Iranian assets, which could lead to the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and the restart of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.
More from the original report
The United Arab Emirates envoy Anwar Gargash said another round of escalation was not in the interests of Iran or any of its neighbours. He said: “We are also, as we have shown before, braced for the worst.”
He added: “Relations with Iran are essential, because Iran is our neighbour and we do not want to see it get caught up in a prolonged crisis.”
Qatar’s mediation continued despite unidentified missiles striking a Pakistan-bound Qatari LNG tanker near the strait of Hormuz on Friday. The attack came despite the ship receiving direct clearance and safe-passage approval from Tehran just hours earlier.
In a bid to overcome the lack of trust on both sides, Qatar has been focusing its efforts on reaching an agreement for a plan to compress the process by which the US lifts sanctions and then Iran reopens the strait of Hormuz and starts nuclear talks. Iran has agreed to cut the timetable from seven to two days.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he hoped the US would choose “diplomacy over other paths”. He said Iran was ready for both defence and diplomacy, depending on Washington’s “rationality”. Araghchi said there were currently no plans for direct talks with Washington.
Araghchi has not been attending the mediation in Doha and is due to go to Turkmenistan on Monday, but other Iranian diplomats are heavily involved.
Donald Trump said on Saturday the US had knocked out much of Iran’s military but still had to “take care of” one…