Qatar PM to meet Trump: What’s the latest on US-Iran negotiations?

United States President Donald Trump is set to hold talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani behind closed doors at the White House on Monday, amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to bridge differences over Iran’s nuclear programme and the terms for ending the conflict.

An unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency that Vice President JD Vance is also scheduled to hold talks with Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as foreign minister and has been known to act as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran.

Iran has stepped up diplomatic efforts amid suggestions by Trump that the US could resume full-scale strikes on Iran.

Here is a look at where diplomatic efforts stand before the meeting:

What is Iran’s latest position?

Iran offered the US a new nuclear and peace proposal via Qatari mediators on Thursday, to be discussed only after Washington meets Tehran’s seven demands. The US is examining the proposal.

Iran has been unwilling to hold negotiations over its atomic activities with the Trump administration until the latter agrees to several core conditions that Tehran has been demanding be part of any ceasefire agreement.

Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 440.9kg (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60 percent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

Iran’s enrichment boost came after Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Signed under President Barack Obama, the deal had capped enrichment at below 3.67 percent.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday warned that Tehran will “rain down hell” if the US resumes attacks.

Speaking to Al Jazeera last month, Araghchi said Tehran’s two-day proposal was developed with Qatari mediators and based on the seven-day plan Iran announced at the UN General Assembly in September.

“On day one, the US implements a set of measures. On day two, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen, and navigation will be restored to what it used to be,” he said.

Tehran’s demands include lifting the sanctions Washington imposed on Iran after the collapse of a memorandum of understanding, signed in Islamabad, Pakistan, in June, reducing the US military presence in the region, reinstating the oil waivers granted in June as part of the MoU and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar.

Tehran also requested that the new shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz, a global oil chokepoint, worked out by Iran and Oman be formally recognised and that all other routes be closed. Finally, it demanded ending the war on all fronts, including Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

Araghchi held talks with 12 regional counterparts over 48 hours last week, calling for a regional security arrangement free from the involvement of extra-regional powers. Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, warned Trump on Saturday against renewed attacks, saying: “Start war and you will face a devastating response.”

What have Trump, Rubio said?

Trump on Sunday warned that Washington had identified additional targets in Iran should military action resume, but said it was “highly unlikely” to launch new strikes if negotiations yielded a strong agreement.

Sheikh Mohammed said mediation efforts continue and that the US has intentions and willingness to “take steps towards finding a solution”, after Trump confirmed on Friday that the White House was talking to Iranian representatives and that the team had “made a lot of progress with Iran”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiations with Iran had not made progress. He told reporters in Florida on Sunday that while the war was unpopular, Trump “identified a very real threat” in Iran and had worked to stop it from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Rubio added that although the US president prefers a diplomatic solution, Iranian demands are “not just unacceptable, but in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic”.

“I wouldn’t say we’re at the verge of a breakthrough,” he added.

Where is the war headed?

US media reported that Trump was being pressed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Brad Cooper to resume attacks against Iran.

Axios quoted a US official as saying CENTCOM was preparing for the resumption of major military operations in Iran, and that it was just waiting for orders from Washington.

On Thursday, Trump told reporters the US may have to “destroy” the rest of Iran, adding that people will “know soon enough” if he acts.

Trump warned that US forces have three aircraft carriers stationed in the region “fully locked and loaded”, ready to continue strikes if need be. He said the US identified infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges, that it would strike if military action resumes.

The US military, meanwhile, has carried out limited strikes on Iran, including against its air defences, at least twice over the past week. It also fired on a commercial ship and disabled it on Saturday, which the US said was trying to breach its naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Rubio said Washington would take “defensive” actions if needed. “If there’s a clear and present threat to shipping or to our forces in the region, we have a right to defend ourselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Aerospace Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday made threats that echoed those of the Iranian foreign minister and said weapons have been “secured for years to come”.

IRGC Brigadier-General Ali Belali said in a statement on Telegram that “the armed forces are at the ready, and if the enemy makes a mistake, Iran’s response will be devastating and severe.”