Qatar Puts a Seven-Day Peace Draft Before Iran as Tehran Calls the Ideas Unacceptable

October 29, 2026 · Category: World News

Eight months into the war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran on Feb. 28, mediators are trying again. Qatar presented Tehran with a new draft deal on Sunday, and Iran is expected to respond by the end of the week, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters, as carried by Al-Monitor. The draft sets out a seven-day timeline of daily confidence-building steps for each side, could start early next week and would be backed by several guarantor countries.

The first public reaction from Tehran was cool. A senior Iranian official involved in the talks said Qatar had offered only "unacceptable ideas and not an offer" and that Iran's refusal to show flexibility on the nuclear issue was unchanged, Reuters reported via Investing.com. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi struck a softer note the same day, saying Iran was in close contact with intermediaries about ways to carry out its own seven-day proposal and that the plan could be completed in less than a week, according to Arab News. He has previously said that plan could reopen the Strait of Hormuz under certain conditions. President Donald Trump rejected it, which led to the latest round of Qatari mediation.

The gap between the two sides is mostly about sequence. According to Reuters, Washington wants Iran's nuclear program on the table from the start, while Tehran says its conditions must be met first, including an end to the US blockade of its ports and the lifting of sanctions on its oil exports. A seven-day schedule with guarantors looks like an attempt to bridge that gap, letting both sides move step by step instead of demanding everything up front. An interim agreement reached through mediation in June fell apart quickly, which helps explain the caution.

The pressure to reach a deal is growing. The official told Reuters there were concerns that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting for another term in a general election, could resume strikes this week. Trump repeated threats on Friday to hit Iran again, and Iranian security officials told Reuters that Tehran has plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if strikes resume. The conflict has also spread: Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday that they hit Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery, the kingdom's largest, with a ballistic missile, according to a Reuters world news summary.

Why it matters

Iran's formal answer, expected by the end of the week, will show whether this round of talks can succeed where the June deal did not. The outcome affects shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, oil supplies and the risk of a wider war in the Gulf. Any Israeli decision on renewed strikes could change the picture quickly.

Sources

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