Qatar says US and Iran still trading proposals as Tehran reportedly braces for war

Qatar says it is still relaying proposals between the United States and Iran and hopes the two sides can reach a deal. Arab media reports published the same day, however, describe an Iranian leadership that sees renewed war with the US as the more probable result of the current exchanges.

Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said both governments are still committed to negotiating and that Doha is passing their proposals back and forth in real time, The Times of Israel reported. He added that each side is now studying the ideas Qatar has put to them. Israel's N12 news carried a further remark from the Qatari spokesman: "There are developments in the negotiations," he said, expressing hope that an agreement can be reached.

What the Qatari mediators are doing

Qatar, a small Gulf state whose capital is Doha, is acting as a go-between rather than hosting face-to-face talks. According to al-Ansari, its role is to carry ideas between the parties as they are produced, a description that suggests the US and Iranian delegations are not speaking to each other directly.

The Saudi outlet Al Arabiya, as cited by The Times of Israel, reported that Qatari mediators are currently in Tehran waiting to receive Iran's answer to the latest Qatari proposal. The content of that proposal has not been made public in the reports.

A divide inside Iran's leadership

Al Arabiya, citing unnamed sources, reported that Tehran's own reading is that the present exchanges with Washington will most probably end with the two countries at war again. The phrasing in the reports implies that the two countries have fought before; the reports themselves do not describe that earlier conflict.

The same outlet described a split between Iran's elected civilian figures and its security establishment. According to Al Arabiya, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, together with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, pressed the security leadership to proceed with the Qatari plan as a route to a diplomatic settlement with Washington, despite the pessimistic reading of where events are heading.

In Iran's system, the president, parliament and foreign ministry handle much of the country's day-to-day diplomacy, but security and military decisions involve separate bodies. The reported appeal from the civilian side suggests that, at least in this account, the final word on the Qatari proposal rests with the security leadership.

A rejected direct channel

A separate report from Erem News, an outlet based in Abu Dhabi, said Mohsen Rezaei, described as Iran's top security official, turned down a Qatari suggestion to set up a direct line of communication with the US in Doha. The Times of Israel relayed that account. If accurate, it would mean Iran prefers, for now, to keep contacts with Washington flowing through Qatari intermediaries rather than opening its own channel.

How the accounts fit together

The picture from the two sides is not uniform. The on-the-record Qatari statements are cautiously hopeful: the spokesman speaks of developments, of continued commitment from both parties and of hopes for an agreement. The reports attributed to Iranian thinking, carried by Saudi and Emirati outlets and based on anonymous sources, are considerably gloomier, pointing to an expectation of war and a refusal of direct talks.

These accounts do not necessarily contradict one another. A mediator can describe active exchanges while one party privately doubts they will succeed. But readers should note that the optimistic framing comes from the named Qatari official, while the pessimistic assessment and the internal Iranian divisions rest on unnamed sources cited by regional media that have not been independently confirmed.

For Israeli readers and those following the region, the state of US-Iran contacts matters because any agreement or breakdown between Washington and Tehran bears directly on Israel's security environment. The Times of Israel and the Israeli broadcaster N12 both reported the Qatari remarks.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports set out the terms of the latest Qatari proposal or say when Iran is expected to deliver its response. No reaction from the US government is reported, and there is no on-the-record comment from Iranian officials on the claims that Tehran expects war or that Rezaei rejected a direct channel. The reports also do not explain what developments the Qatari spokesman was referring to.