Qatar’s Iran draft disputed as Tehran response is awaited

Qatari mediators delivered a draft agreement to Tehran on Sunday, according to an official briefed on negotiations, but an Iranian official disputed that account and said Qatar had brought unacceptable ideas rather than a peace proposal. The negotiations-briefed official said Iran was expected to respond by the end of the week. The reported draft lays out seven days of daily confidence-building steps addressing concerns of both Tehran and Washington. The process could begin early next week, with several countries serving as guarantors, the official said. Their identities and proposed roles were not disclosed. The accounts leave uncertain whether Qatar presented a new proposal and whether Tehran will engage with it. The official’s description of a delivered draft has not been independently corroborated in the reports, and the text of the draft has not been made public. The Iranian official’s denial, also reported Wednesday, directly challenges the description of the initiative as a peace proposal. The senior Iranian official said the ideas were unacceptable and that Iran would show no flexibility on the nuclear issue. The official did not, in the supplied account, describe a...