Qatari mediators return to Tehran in last-ditch effort to broker interim deal

Talks ahead of next week's US midterm elections aimed at preventing an intense new round of war

Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday in a last-ditch effort to broker an interim deal between Iran and the Trump administration before next week's US midterm elections and to prevent an intense new round of war.

Concerns have been mounting in Iran and across the region that the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are preparing a widescale bombing campaign against the Islamic republic after Americans vote on Tuesday.

It is the second trip by Qatari negotiators to Tehran this week, with the mediators desperately trying to make progress on a version of a seven-day plan Iran presented at the UN General Assembly last month.

Under the proposal, Iran would allow shipping to move freely through the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, allows Tehran to export oil and grants it access to some of its frozen assets held overseas.

The parties would then restart negotiations on a final deal. But there have been few signs of progress as Washington and Tehran, which harbour deep distrust of each other, haggle over the sequencing and the fate of Iran's 440kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

The US wants Iran to agree to a schedule to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit its main nuclear facilities, where Tehran's stockpile is believed to be stored, a person briefed on the talks said.

The Trump administration has also repeatedly insisted that Iran give up its stockpile, which is enriched close to weapons grade, and transfer it offshore. But Iranian officials publicly reject any such move.

"The draft agreement includes a timeline that addresses concerns that both sides have and where both sides would be expected to take steps to implement the deal," said a diplomat briefed on the talks.

Iran has not allowed the IAEA to inspect its facilities since the US joined Israel in bombing its main nuclear sites -- Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan -- during a 12-day war last year.

That campaign significantly set back Iran's programme, but concerns have lingered about the fate of the stockpile of the uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity -- a short step from weapons grade.

Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's top civilian security official, said this month that Tehran would not allow "a single gramme of enriched uranium" to be removed from Iran.

"There will be no negotiations until the United States takes steps to build trust," he said on X. "That process must begin with the full fulfilment of all Iran's conditions."

Trump said this week that he had "a decision to make" as he weighs whether to launch another military offensive in a bid to force Tehran to submit to his demands. "Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal?" he told Fox News.

Netanyahu, who remains as caretaker prime minister after Israel's inconclusive election this week, has been urging Trump to "finish the job" and launch a joint assault with Israel.

Diplomats and analysts are sceptical that any new offensive would force the Islamic regime, which withstood a relentless 40-day bombing campaign after Trump and Netanyahu launched the war on February 28, to capitulate.

Instead, they say it would trigger a ferocious Iranian response that could target energy facilities and other infrastructure across the region, undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz and data centres.

Trump has previously been on the brink of launching a new round of war against Iran, only to be convinced to hold off after calls from Gulf leaders.

Iran and the US had agreed to a memorandum of understanding in June to reopen the strait and hold talks on a final settlement, including a nuclear deal, but it collapsed after about two weeks, with both sides accusing the other of violating the interim agreement.

Trump, who drew widespread criticism for agreeing to the MoU which was viewed as giving Iran favourable terms, has since said that deal is void and his administration has pushed for an agreement that provides more concrete Iranian commitments on its nuclear programme.

He also claims that the US is now in control of the strait as oil flows have largely returned to prewar levels. But the costs are huge and crude prices remain at months-long highs, trading at around $116 a barrel, while Iran continues to attack tankers.

"There's a synchronisation problem because Trump is insisting on immediate gratification in the deal, and the MoU did the opposite," said Trita Parsi, executive vice-president of the US-based Quincy Institute. "The actual benefit he was looking for on the nuclear front was deferred to the end."

The Iranians, meanwhile, are not willing to foreground the nuclear issue, since "there are no concessions the US can put up front that are of equal value, and equally irreversible, because those are concessions only Congress can give," Parsi added.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said this week that while Tehran's armed forces "are fully prepared to defend the homeland, Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed".