Iran-US Doha talks have produced a draft proposal that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days, Iranian officials said on Monday 2 November 2026, as a third day of Qatari-mediated contacts raised hopes of a deal to end the eight-month war between Iran and the United States. The plan, a compressed version of a seven-step proposal Tehran drew up in September, would trade an end to the US naval blockade and sanctions relief for the reopening of the world’s most important oil shipping lane — but Washington has not yet agreed to it, and no final deal has been announced.
What happened in Doha on 2 November 2026
Iranian negotiators left Doha on Sunday 1 November after three days of talks with Qatari mediators, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an official briefed on the discussions. A draft proposal is now being circulated, and a follow-up meeting is possible, the official said. The departure was not caused by difficulties in the negotiations, the official added, without giving further details of the draft.
The talks began on Friday 30 October, when Qatari mediators spent more than 12 hours in discussions in Tehran before the Iranian delegation travelled to Doha. There are no direct talks between Iran and the United States: messages pass through Qatari intermediaries, and Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, was in Doha to facilitate the exchange, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, who is not attending in Doha, said on Sunday that the talks were “ongoing and progressing” and that no final conclusion had been reached.
What the Iran-US Doha talks propose: the two-day Hormuz plan
The talks are built on a seven-step plan Tehran drew up in September to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the US naval blockade on Iran, Baghaei said. Tehran is now suggesting the plan could be carried out on a faster timeline under a deal. Araqchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday 31 October that under a deal the strait could be opened within two days rather than the seven days originally envisaged. “On day one, the US implements a set of measures. On day two, the Hormuz Strait will reopen, and navigation will be restored to what it used to be,” Araqchi said.
Qatar had initially suggested cutting the implementation period to five days, and further consultations during a Qatari delegation’s visit to Tehran produced the two-day version now under discussion. Under the original seven-day version reported in October, the United States would take agreed steps during the first five days — ending hostilities, lifting its naval blockade on Iranian ports, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports and releasing frozen Iranian assets — Iran would reopen the strait on the sixth day, and negotiations toward a comprehensive agreement would resume on the seventh day. All of this remains Iran’s account of a proposal under discussion through mediators: the United States has not publicly accepted Tehran’s conditions, and no official text of any draft has been published.
What Iran wants in return for reopening the Strait of Hormuz
Tehran’s conditions are wide-ranging. Araqchi listed the lifting of sanctions the United States imposed on Iran after the collapse of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding in July, reducing the US military presence in the region, restoring oil waivers, and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar. Iran is also demanding recognition of shipping routes through the strait that it discussed with Oman, and the closure of other routes. At the centre of the talks is more than $6 billion in frozen Iranian money — proceeds of Iranian oil sales to South Korea, moved to restricted Qatari accounts in September 2023 under a prisoner swap. Washington suspended Iran’s access to the money after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
Baghaei said Iran’s demands were clear and reasonable. “No final agreement can be initiated, nor can the Strait of Hormuz be reopened or secured, unless the US naval blockade is brought to an end, Iran’s demands are respected, and Iran’s legitimate requirements are addressed,” he said. Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said he had reviewed a letter sent by US Vice President JD Vance and warned that the strait was unlikely to reopen unless Iran’s conditions were met. The Vance letter is one of several channels now running in parallel with the Doha contacts.
What Washington wants — and what it has not decided
President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s initial proposal, and he has said the United States will not launch new attacks before the midterm vote on Tuesday 3 November, though he has not ruled out military action afterwards. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Trump has not decided whether to launch fresh strikes on Iran and prefers a diplomatic solution. Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday that he preferred to give diplomacy more time, Axios reported.
Washington is seeking early commitments concerning Iran’s highly enriched uranium, alongside discussions about sanctions relief and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, The Guardian reported, citing the Vance letter. Major disagreements remain over the sequence of concessions, sanctions, nuclear commitments and guarantees that any agreement would be implemented. Iran’s supreme leader warned the United States and Israel on Saturday against launching new attacks, and Tehran has said any renewed attack would trigger retaliation. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held talks in Moscow last week.
Why oil prices fell on the Iran-US Doha talks
Markets did not wait for a deal. Brent crude fell 4.2% to $108.68 a barrel on Monday 2 November, and US West Texas Intermediate fell 4.2% to $99.74, according to the Associated Press. Earlier in the day, Brent had traded near $109.75, down 3.2%, and WTI near $100.69. The drop followed a strong rally in October, when Brent gained 13.6% for the month and US crude rose 15.2%, with Brent reaching its highest level in six months on Friday after a tanker attack in the strait.
The strait carries about a fifth of the world’s traded oil, so even the prospect of reopening moved prices. Goldman Sachs raised its December 2026 Brent forecast to $105 a barrel from $90, and its WTI forecast to $94 from $81, while still expecting elevated supply risks. Seven OPEC+ producers, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq, agreed on Sunday to keep their December production targets at September levels and will meet again on 29 November. Exporters are already sending more oil around the strait: loadings at Fujairah and Omani terminals are 36% above prewar levels, while Red Sea shipments are 8% higher, according to Kpler.
The risk has not gone away. On Monday, reports said two tankers had hit mines in the same waterway, days after Iran said four tankers had hit mines in the strait. Gulf states remain cautious: a United Arab Emirates envoy said Gulf states were “braced for the worst” even as the UAE hopes for an Iran-US breakthrough. Brent oil prices in November 2026 will depend heavily on whether the Doha draft becomes a deal.
What happens next in the Iran-US Doha talks
The proposal now sits with Washington, and no public answer has come. A follow-up meeting in Doha is possible, and the Qatari mediators are continuing consultations with both sides, including Pakistani mediators. Separately, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters that Qatari mediators presented a new draft peace proposal on Sunday that is being considered by Tehran, with a response expected by the end of the week. That draft sets a seven-day timeline of daily confidence-building steps for each side, and several countries would act as guarantors. A senior Iranian official gave a cooler account, saying Qatar had presented only “unacceptable ideas and not an offer” — a reminder that the drafts circulating in Doha are proposals, not an agreed deal.
The war began on 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign, and Iran closed the waterway shortly afterwards. The immediate deadline is now Tuesday 3 November, when Americans vote in the midterm elections. Trump has ruled out strikes before the vote but not after it, so whether the draft proposal gains traction in Washington in the coming days will help set both fuel prices and the direction of the war. For now, the Iran-US Doha talks are the closest the two sides have come to a written path out of the conflict — and the distance between a circulated draft and a signed deal is still the whole story.
Sources: Reuters; Al Jazeera; Associated Press; The Guardian; Axios.