Washington's Answer Fails to Arrive and Araghchi Flies Home
The formal American response to Iran’s seven-day plan did not come. Abbas Araghchi left New York saying he expected it by the end of the day, while Qatar now hopes to deliver it tomorrow. He also shut down talk of movement: “I state firmly that there has been no change in Iran’s position… At present, there has been no discussion at all about flexibility.”
The gap between the two accounts is now the story. An American official says Tehran has shown flexibility on the nuclear file; Tehran says flatly that it has not. What is agreed is the shape of the impasse: Iran wants the blockade lifted, oil sanctions waived and an estimated $12bn in frozen assets released, with a wider ceasefire including Lebanon, before the strait reopens on the seventh day and nuclear talks begin. Washington wants everything settled at once rather than in stages. Meanwhile the pressure Tehran is under became measurable today, with the rial passing 2.5m to the dollar on the free market, a record low that beat the previous one set on 2 September in twenty-seven days. Watch whether Qatar carries an answer on Wednesday, or whether the deadline slips again.