Iran: contacts over ending war continue after talks finish with no breakthrough

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 Araqchi 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% 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 Araqchi 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…