Follow-Up: Iran's Supreme Leader Orders Military Ready to Respond to Any Attack as Envoys Meet Qatari Mediators in Doha
Iranian negotiators held talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with Qatari mediators on Saturday to discuss paths out of the war in the Gulf, a source briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on October 31, as diplomats try to avert a new outbreak of fighting after this week's US midterm elections.
Saturday's talks followed more than 12 hours of discussions on Friday between Iranian and Qatari envoys in Tehran, the source said, adding that the talks were being coordinated in regular contacts with Washington.
Countries in the region have been anticipating that US President Donald Trump, who has held off on strikes on Iran during the weeks leading up to Tuesday's midterm elections, could restart attacks once the voting is over. Iran has repeatedly said it would respond to new attacks by striking at US and Israeli targets in neighbouring countries.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement on Saturday ordering the armed forces to be prepared to respond to any attacks. "Any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response," he said, adding that senior commanders had reported high readiness along the Gulf coast, in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and on Iran's northwestern and southeastern borders. The Iranian military later announced it was taking steps to improve its readiness.
Washington has also taken steps indicating openness to diplomacy. Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation at previous rounds of talks with Iran, wrote a letter to a hardline senior Iranian security official, which the New York Times and Wall Street Journal described as an initiative to see whether talks could restart. Trump played the letter down, saying he approved it only to discuss the possibility of letting more medical supplies into Iran.
In the latest Qatari-mediated discussions, the Qataris brought a proposal to Tehran a week ago for a seven-day plan under which the US and Iran would take daily steps to build trust ahead of broader peace talks; a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday the proposal was not deemed satisfactory by Tehran. Iran has been proposing its own seven-day plan since September, so far rejected by Trump, calling for Washington to lift a blockade of Iranian ports, unfreeze assets and approve an Iranian-backed route through the Strait of Hormuz, after which the contested strait would be reopened.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in remarks reported by Al Jazeera on Saturday that Iran was studying Vance's letter, and that the Iranian plan was the only proposal on the table to reopen the strait.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：卡塔尔首都多哈天际线（资料图）。Zairon 摄，CC BY，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Doha skyline in Qatar (file photo). Photo by Zairon, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons.
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