Iran’s Araghchi meets Qatari mediators as US calls for nuclear talks

Tehran awaits reply on Hormuz plan as a US official says there will be no deal unless nuclear issues are addressed.

US official says ‘constructive’ Iran talks continue but nuclear issues delay deal

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has met with Qatari mediators in New York to discuss a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while a United States official said there would be no agreement to end the war unless Tehran’s nuclear programme is addressed.

Araghchi told Iranian state media on Monday that the Qatari mediators would carry the ideas discussed at the meeting to the US and that he hoped to receive Washington’s final response by Tuesday.

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“We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions and how to implement those conditions,” he said. “They had some ideas, and we had a discussion that they will also present to the American side.”

Asked whether he would stay in New York to await the reply, Araghchi said he would fly to Tehran within hours.

“Whenever the Qataris have a response, they know how to get it to us,” he said.

He described the meetings as part of an existing exchange of messages through Qatari and Pakistani mediators, which he said had taken on “a more serious form” since Iran submitted its proposal.

The Iranian plan , announced on Friday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, calls on the US to release frozen Iranian funds, lift sanctions and end its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Araghchi said those steps could be completed within four or five days, allowing the strait to reopen and negotiations on a final agreement, including on Iran’s nuclear programme, to begin by the seventh day.

US President Donald Trump, however, rejected the proposal on Saturday, calling it “unacceptable”.

‘Positive, constructive’ talks

The US official, who spoke to Al Jazeera, said indirect discussions were continuing.

The talks were “positive and constructive”, the official said, but stressed there would be no agreement unless Iran’s nuclear programme is addressed. The official said Trump is willing to relieve sanctions and release Iran’s frozen funds in exchange for progress on nuclear issues.

“Iran has indicated they are flexible on the nuclear issues, but the sides still remain apart on the timing of the commitments and who takes which steps first,” the official said.

The official also expressed scepticism of Iran, saying it had broken the memorandum of understanding signed in June by firing on commercial vessels. Tehran denies the accusation and says it was Washington that broke its commitments by failing to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and by seeking to establish alternate shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran had closed the strait, which handled roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies before the war, shortly after the US and Israel launched their offensive on February 28. Iranian attacks on vessels since have sharply curtailed shipping, and oil prices have risen above $100 a barrel.

Even so, crude exports from major Middle East producers rebounded in September to 12.8 million barrels per day, their highest level since the war began, the Reuters news agency reported, citing data from the maritime intelligence firm Kpler.

That is still well below the 18.8 million bpd exported in February.

Some ships have used the US military-supervised route hugging the coast of Oman, travelling at night with tracking systems off and offloading oil to tankers outside the strait. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said on Saturday that American forces had assisted 2,000 transits and more than 1 billion barrels of oil in recent months.

The US has also imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and threatened secondary sanctions against airports and companies that do business with Iranian airlines. The United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Oman have already cancelled related flights.

Trump says US will win

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said US officials had also spoken with mediators but insisted that Washington would prevail.

“We’re going to win,” he said. “It’s going to go pretty quickly.” He added that gas prices would fall once the US won the war.

In Tehran, officials struck a defiant tone.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in a message marking the Iran-Iraq War and Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2024, said that the days of foreign domination were over.

“Having suffered painful blows from our valiant combatants and the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz, they [the enemy] dare not venture beyond the Arabian Sea,” Khamenei said in the message carried by Iranian media.

“Whenever they have risked doing so, they have only inflicted harm upon themselves, and the time is fast approaching when the Arabian Sea, too, will be cleared of their presence.”

Major-General Ali Abdollahi, the armed forces chief of staff, meanwhile, warned that Iran and allied forces would deliver a “decisive and devastating response” to any threat against the country.

Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari insisted that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and said Iranian forces were ready to prevent enemy forces from entering the country.

德黑兰方面正等待美国官员对霍尔木兹协议的答复，此前一位美国官员表示，除非核问题得到解决，否则不会达成协议。

美国官员称，伊朗核谈判仍在“建设性”进行，但核问题导致协议延迟达成。

伊朗外交部长阿巴斯·阿拉格奇在纽约会见了卡塔尔调解人，讨论重新开放霍尔木兹海峡的提议。与此同时，一位美国官员表示，除非德黑兰的核计划得到解决，否则不会达成结束战争的协议。

阿拉格奇周一告诉伊朗国家媒体，卡塔尔调解员将把会议上讨论的想法带到美国，他希望在周二之前收到华盛顿的最终回应。

佩泽什基安称伊朗“不再信任与华盛顿的谈判”，这是其中的1/4条。

列表 2/4：由于战争阻碍了霍尔木兹海峡的通行，伊朗将贸易重心北移至里海。

列表 3/4 “更好的协议”：特朗普拒绝伊朗停火提议的背后原因是什么？

（共4条）霍尔木兹海峡紧张局势持续，伊朗和美国距离达成协议越来越远（第4条）

他说：“我们讨论了一些想法，以及如何找到满足伊朗条件并落实这些条件的解决方案。他们提出了一些想法，我们也进行了讨论，他们也会把这些想法提交给美方。”

当被问及是否会留在纽约等待答复时，阿拉格奇表示他将在几个小时内飞往德黑兰。

他说：“每当卡塔尔人有了回应，他们都知道该如何把回应传达给我们。”

他将这些会晤描述为通过卡塔尔和巴基斯坦调解人进行的现有信息交流的一部分，并表示自伊朗提交其提议以来，这种交流已经采取了“更加严肃的形式”。

伊朗周五在纽约联合国大会上宣布的方案呼吁美国解冻伊朗资金、解除制裁并结束对伊朗港口的海上封锁。阿拉格奇表示，这些步骤可以在四五天内完成，从而使霍尔木兹海峡重新开放，并可在第七天开始就包括伊朗核计划在内的最终协议进行谈判。

然而，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周六拒绝了这一提议，称其“不可接受”。

“积极、建设性”的谈话

一位接受半岛电视台采访的美国官员表示，间接磋商仍在继续。

这位官员表示，会谈“积极且富有建设性”，但他强调，除非伊朗核问题得到解决，否则不会达成任何协议。该官员称，特朗普愿意解除对伊朗的制裁并解冻其被冻结的资金，以换取伊朗在核问题上取得进展。

这位官员表示：“伊朗已表示在核问题上态度灵活，但双方在承诺的时间安排以及谁先采取哪些步骤方面仍存在分歧。”

这位官员还对伊朗表示怀疑，称伊朗炮击商船，违反了6月份签署的谅解备忘录。德黑兰否认了这一指控，并表示是华盛顿违背了其承诺，因为华盛顿未能阻止以色列对黎巴嫩的袭击，并试图建立经由霍尔木兹海峡的替代航线。

2月28日，美国和以色列发动进攻后不久，伊朗便关闭了海峡。战前，该海峡承载着全球约20%的石油和天然气供应。此后，伊朗对船只的袭击严重阻碍了航运，油价也上涨至每桶100美元以上。

即便如此，路透社援引海事情报公司 Kpler 的数据报道称，中东主要产油国的原油出口在 9 月份反弹至每天 1280 万桶，达到战争开始以来的最高水平。

这仍然远低于2月份1880万桶/日的出口量。

一些船只利用美国军方监管的、沿阿曼海岸线航行的航线，夜间关闭追踪系统，在海峡外向油轮卸载石油。美国中央司令部司令布拉德·库珀海军上将周六表示，近几个月来，美军已协助完成了2000次石油运输，输送了超过10亿桶石油。

美国还对伊朗港口实施了封锁，并威胁对与伊朗航空公司有业务往来的机场和公司实施二级制裁。阿联酋、伊拉克和阿曼已经取消了相关航班。

特朗普称美国将获胜

特朗普周一在接受记者采访时表示，美国官员也与调解人进行了交谈，但他坚称华盛顿将会取得胜利。

“我们会赢的，”他说。“胜利很快就会到来。”他还补充说，一旦美国赢得战争，汽油价格就会下降。

在德黑兰，官员们表现出了挑衅的姿态。

最高领袖穆杰塔巴·哈梅内伊在纪念伊朗-伊拉克战争和以色列于 2024 年杀害真主党领导人哈桑·纳斯鲁拉的致辞中表示，外国统治的时代已经结束。

“在遭受我方英勇战士和霍尔木兹海峡守护者的重创之后，他们（敌人）不敢再越过阿拉伯海，”哈梅内伊在伊朗媒体发布的消息中说道。

“每当他们冒险这样做时，他们只会伤害自己，阿拉伯海也将很快摆脱他们的存在。”

与此同时，伊朗武装部队总参谋长阿里·阿卜杜拉希少将警告说，伊朗及其盟军将对任何针对该国的威胁做出“果断而毁灭性的回应”。

海军少将哈比布拉·萨亚里坚称霍尔木兹海峡仍然关闭，并表示伊朗军队已做好准备阻止敌军进入该国。