New Delhi: The US-Iran interim peace deal, announced Sunday, was achieved after Qatari mediators spent 17 hours in Tehran Sunday in a final push to secure the agreement, reported the Financial Times.
The US wanted Qatar to step in as part of the peace negotiation process after talks held in Islamabad in April floundered.
Even the interim peace deal was on the verge of breaking down when the US attacked Iran after negotiations ended, and Iran retaliated. Qatari officials were stranded in Tehran in what the FT report described as a ‘roller coaster ride’, however the deal eventually came through.
While Pakistan has served as the official mediator, Qatar’s re-engagement spotlighted its role as a key US ally and a trusted backchannel with both Washington DC and Tehran.
Qatar is also a designated major non-NATO ally of the US. It hosts Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in West Asia.
“The truce appeared to be unravelling, with Trump warning that it was on ‘massive life support’ and describing Iran’s latest proposal as a ‘piece of garbage’. Within a few days, Washington asked Qatar to step up. Until then Doha had been playing a supporting role to Pakistan, the surprise choice to lead the mediation, alongside Egypt and Turkey,” the FT report noted.
A team led by senior Qatari negotiators Ali al-Thawadi and Hamad al-Kubaisi secretly travelled to Tehran. Pakistan, which had helped broker earlier understandings and maintained close ties with the Trump administration, remained an important partner in the process. But diplomats involved in the talks were quoted pointing out that it was Qatar that increasingly became the bridge between Washington and Tehran.
The negotiations finally culminated in a memorandum of understanding as laying the groundwork for a permanent end to the conflict.
The report also added that preparatory meetings are expected to take place in Doha this week before the formal signing ceremony in Switzerland and the launch of technical discussions on implementation.
Two weeks ago, on 22 May, a Reuters report had first revealed that a Qatari negotiation team in Tehran was involved in securing a peace deal.
Until then, Doha had dismissed suggestions of a mediatory role in the West Asia war, after Iranian missiles struck the country and damaged infra. Iran’s attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG production facility led to 17 percent of Qatar’s capacity being wiped out. Doha had halted production post the beginning of the West Asia war. Before the war, 20 percent of global LNG trade transited the Strait of Hormuz, primarily from Qatar.
According to the FT report, however, when the Qatari delegation left Tehran in mid-May, believing they had a deal, they learned that Trump was weighing military strikes against Iran. In an effort to salvage the negotiations, leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates personally appealed to Trump, arguing that mediators were close to securing a breakthrough and urging him to give diplomacy more time.
Later that day, Trump announced that he had postponed a planned attack against Iran, saying “serious negotiations” with Tehran were underway.
Doha had earlier served as an intermediary between Washington and groups ranging from Hamas to the Taliban. In the latest crisis, however, according to the report, Doha found itself attempting something even more ambitious: preventing a direct US-Iran war while negotiating the contours of a broader settlement. That balancing act became particularly important as unilateral actions threatened to derail attempts at peace.
One major obstacle emerged from escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Earlier in May, Qatar’s negotiators spent days persuading Iranian officials to suspend those demands, at least during an extended cease-fire period.
By late May, negotiators believed they were close to a breakthrough. Then new complications emerged. Israeli military operations against Hezbollah threatened to widen the conflict and prompted Iran to reconsider its participation in negotiations. At several points, Trump personally intervened with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu as mediators worked to prevent regional fighting from overwhelming the diplomatic track.
Even after negotiators reached tentative understandings on key issues, disputes over wording delayed a final agreement. Iranian officials scrutinised individual phrases, while American negotiators revised provisions concerning nuclear commitments and maritime access.
Qatari negotiators remained in Tehran throughout the crisis, coordinating closely with American officials and seeking assurances from Iranian leaders that negotiations would continue despite the regional flare-up.
The issues under debate were among the most sensitive in the conflict: the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and guarantees against renewed military action.
Under the proposed arrangement, Iran would gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass, while suspending any transit fees during a 60-day ceasefire extension. The United States would lift restrictions on Iranian ports and begin discussions on a framework for addressing Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
After returning to Doha in May, the Qataris joined a broader regional effort to prevent negotiations from collapsing.
According to Pakistani and Arab diplomats, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, all contacted Trump, asking him to refrain from further military action.
Even as clashes continued, lower-level American and Iranian officials continued meeting in Doha, keeping negotiations going.
The decisive push came after Trump announced Saturday that the memorandum of understanding would be signed the following day.
Soon afterward, Qatari negotiators returned to Tehran for what would become the final round of talks.
But even then, events threatened to intervene. Israel launched another strike on Beirut, prompting an angry response from Trump, who said the attack “should not have happened” because it was retaliation for what he described as a “very small and meaningless” strike by Hezbollah.
The talks stretched for 17 hours. At one point, negotiators paused briefly to watch a World Cup football match being played in the United States. At another, the Qataris threatened to walk away altogether as Iranian officials continued proposing revisions to the text.
According to people briefed on the discussions, the mediators warned Tehran that time was rapidly running out. If an agreement was not reached before Trump attended a White House UFC event celebrating his 80th birthday, they argued, the risk of renewed American strikes could rise dramatically. The pressure worked.
Shortly before 1 am in Tehran, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif became the first leader to publicly announce that an interim agreement had been reached. Hours later, Trump declared on social media: “The Deal with Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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