Iran says it sent the US a nuclear proposal via Qatar, with seven conditions – Trump on a new strike: “You’ll find out soon”

Iran has sent the United States a nuclear proposal via Qatar, but will begin negotiations only when Washington satisfies seven Iranian demands. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, November 5, on condition of anonymity. He said the US is examining the proposal and gave no details of its content.

The new step comes two days after Qatar said Washington had approved the draft agreement with Tehran, as we reported on Tuesday, November 3. The disclosure followed a New York Times report that Tehran is considering proposals from international mediators on its nuclear programme.

Seven conditions before talks

The same day the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, repeated his country’s position during a visit to Russia, after meeting Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin; see our report on the Russian contacts with Tehran. “On the diplomatic front we have announced seven conditions to the Americans. As long as they do not satisfy them, we will neither open the Strait of Hormuz nor negotiate,” Rezaei said. According to Iran’s WANA agency, Rezaei added that the current diplomatic efforts aim solely at Iran receiving what it considers its rights from the US.

The conditions include the lifting of US sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian funds and compensation for war damage. Iran’s Tasnim agency adds that they also include an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. Washington insists that Iran’s nuclear programme must be discussed from the start of any talks.

Trump: “You’ll find out soon”

Donald Trump spoke in the Oval Office on Thursday and left open the possibility of a new strike. “I would prefer not to destroy the rest of the country, if possible, but maybe we’ll have to. You’ll find out soon,” he told reporters. He added that if the Iran matter needs to be finished, the US is fully ready. The president also claimed that Tehran “does nothing without our approval” and that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon.

On Tuesday, November 3 he had told the Financial Times that there is no immediate plan for a strike, but that the military remains in full readiness.

The Israeli military waits for Washington

An analysis by the Israeli website Ynet describes an environment of waiting. Even after the elections in Israel and the US, the possibility of a strike on Iran remains open. There have been no dramatic changes in the concentration of US forces in the region, beyond the reinforcement in southern Israel and some movements in the Arabian Sea that are not considered unusual. Defence officials stress that the picture can change quickly, depending on Washington’s decisions and the objectives of a possible operation.

The Israeli military continues its routine operational activity and refines its procedures, while planning also takes into account the possibility of a new round of fighting in Lebanon. Israeli officials are trying to understand not only whether fighting will resume but what its goals would be: Benjamin Netanyahu talks of regime change, while voices in the US call for a short, intense operation that would weaken Iran and bring it to the negotiating table from a position of weakness, yielding a better nuclear deal. Before the Israeli elections, Ynet writes, Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir had prevented, together with the Americans, an operation in Iran that Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz wanted to push.