Steve Witkoff gave a thumbs up. That was his entire answer to the BBC on Tuesday as he left the UN building in New York, after a day of talks with Iran that nobody had announced in advance.
The US envoy later put more on record. On X he said the talks ran “through the mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day.” He added: “They successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work.” Iranian state television confirmed that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had met Witkoff. Qatar mediated.
No breakthrough was reported. Still, it was the first high-level contact since negotiations in Switzerland in June, where Vice President JD Vance joined Witkoff and Jared Kushner to try to carry out an interim agreement and settle the Strait of Hormuz question. That effort produced no lasting settlement, and the fighting resumed.
An ultimatum, then three hours of talks
The meeting followed hours after Donald Trump addressed the UN General Assembly. Much of his speech defended the war. He claimed it had stopped Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, and he put the choice to Iran bluntly: “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell?” Most of the Iranian delegation walked out during his remarks, according to the Kyiv Post.
Afterward Trump told reporters, while meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that his people had held a three-hour session with the Iranians. “They had a very good meeting, a very productive meeting,” he said. “They have another one scheduled in the very near future.” He later told Gulf leaders at the UN there was “a lot of momentum” toward a deal. He has also said he expects an Iran agreement right after November’s US elections.
Kushner took part alongside Witkoff, Trump said. Witkoff declined to give details but said he felt “very good.”
What Tehran wants
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, quoted by state broadcaster IRNA, said the Qatari mediator carried Tehran’s conditions, among them an end to the war on all fronts and to US “acts of aggression.” Iranian media said Araghchi laid out terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz: lifting the US naval blockade, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and ending fighting involving Iran-aligned forces across the region. AFP carried the same account.
The strait matters because about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed through it before the war. Its closure has sent prices swinging, and it adds to the pressure on Trump to find an exit with US congressional elections due in November.
Six months of war
The US and Israel began air strikes on Iran on 28 February. Iran answered by hitting Israel, US bases in the Gulf and America’s Arab Gulf allies, and by blocking the strait. A June ceasefire collapsed. Separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha in July also ended without a lasting agreement.
Since then the two sides have traded fire from time to time. Iran has attacked vessels it says tried to cross the strait without authorisation. The US has struck Iranian sites there and Iranian tankers off the coast, and it keeps a blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has threatened sanctions on any country that keeps trading with Iran. Tehran has shown no sign of shifting, and it insists the war must end on every front, Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon included. Yemen’s Houthis, also allied with Iran, have stepped up attacks on oil shipping from Saudi Arabia.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was due to address the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Sources
- US and Iran hold first talks since June after Trump's 'annihilation' threat
- Trump Reveals ‘Very Productive’ Three-Hour Talks With Iran
- US and Iran Hold Direct Talks on UN General Assembly Sidelines Amid War
