Iran has sent the United States a proposal on its nuclear programme through Qatari intermediaries, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, in the first sign of a possible diplomatic opening since the war between the two countries began in February.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington was reviewing the proposal but declined to give details of its contents. Tehran will only discuss the proposal once the United States meets seven demands it has set as preconditions, the official said.
The contents of the seven demands have not been published in full. Iranian officials have said publicly that they include the lifting of economic sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian funds and an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said during a visit to Russia on Thursday that until those conditions were met, Iran would “neither open the Strait of Hormuz nor have negotiations”.
Asked on Thursday whether he had seen the Iranian proposal, President Donald Trump told reporters: “They’re not doing anything without our approval. It doesn’t make a difference what they’re looking at; they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”
The proposal arrives at a delicate moment. The United States and Israel launched a military offensive against Iran on 28 February, and fighting has continued around the Gulf, with tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and American strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island reported earlier this week. Qatar has been acting as the main channel between the two sides: last month Vice President JD Vance sent a letter through Qatari intermediaries proposing renewed negotiations, and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met Qatari mediators in New York this week.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Iranian officials were separately reviewing a set of proposals put forward by mediators, with the disposal of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium among the central disagreements. Araghchi has previously said that Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin negotiations within days if Washington released frozen funds, lifted sanctions and ended its blockade — an offer Mr Trump rejected as “unacceptable”.
Whether the new proposal changes that deadlock remains unclear. The claim that it has been sent rests on a single anonymous Iranian official, and the United States has not publicly confirmed receiving or reviewing it. What is clear is that both sides are now talking through Doha, even as the White House weighs whether to resume major strikes against Iran.
Sources: Reuters, “Iran sent nuclear proposal to the US via Qatar, senior Iranian official tells Reuters”, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-sent-nuclear-proposal-us-via-qatar-senior-iranian-official-tells-reuters-2026-11-05/ ; The New York Times, reporting on mediator proposals in the US–Iran nuclear dispute, November 2026.
