Iran's foreign minister praises Pakistan and Qatar mediation efforts

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday praised Pakistan and Qatar for their mediation between Tehran and Washington, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported, as Iranian negotiators met Qatari mediators in Doha.

According to IRNA, Araghchi described the efforts and contacts by Qatar and Pakistan as commendable on Tehran's conditions: lifting sanctions, restoring frozen assets, reducing the US military presence in the region, and ending the war on all fronts including Lebanon.

A source told Reuters that Iranian negotiators held talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday on ways out of the Gulf war, as diplomats sought to avert fresh fighting after this week's US midterm elections.

The Doha session followed more than 12 hours of talks in Tehran on Friday between Iranian and Qatari representatives, the source said, and was being linked to regular contacts with Washington.

Pakistan's military chief visited Tehran twice this month to discuss regional peace with officials from regional countries and Iran's defence establishment, Independent Urdu reported.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that President Donald Trump had not decided whether to launch new attacks on Iran but would prefer a diplomatic settlement. Rubio, hosting a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta, declined to set a timeframe for the Qatar talks and said contacts with Iran, direct and indirect, were continuing.

"Talks are happening at several levels. In fact the negotiation process never stopped," he said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement on Saturday ordering the armed forces to be ready to respond to any attack, saying any threat "at any level or type should be met with an immediate, effective and geographically unrestricted response." He has not appeared in public since succeeding his father, who was killed at the start of the war.

Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's security chief, said Tehran was weighing whether to lift its long-term ban on nuclear weapons if tensions resume, though no decision had been made. He said there could be no talks on the nuclear programme until Washington accepts Iran's demands.

Trump, who launched the war alongside Israel in February, has repeatedly signalled plans to resume strikes. Regional countries expect he may restart attacks once voting is completed. Iran has said it will answer any new attack by targeting US and Israeli targets in neighbouring countries.

Washington has also taken steps in recent days that point to a readiness for diplomacy. Earlier this week Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation in earlier rounds of talks with Iran, wrote to Rezaei, a move the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal described as a breakthrough to test whether negotiations can resume.