Source : BRICS NEWS | AI-generated illustration
DOHA, November 1 – Iranian negotiators held a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Sunday aimed at reaching a deal to end the war with the United States, as Tehran paired its diplomacy with fresh warnings that it would strike far and wide if attacked again.
The news aggregator BRICS News reported on X on the evening of November 1, 2026, Malaysia time, that Iran was holding a third straight day of talks with Qatari mediators, and added that Iran said it was reviewing new proposals from mediators on its nuclear programme. Shortly after midnight Malaysia time, it posted that Iran had threatened to attack AI infrastructure if war with the US and Israel broke out again.
A ‘two-day proposal’
An official briefed on the discussions told Reuters that Iranian negotiators were in Doha on Sunday for the third day running. Qatari mediators had been in Tehran on Friday before the talks moved to Doha on Saturday, and the talks were being coordinated in regular contacts with Washington, the official said.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media that the purpose of the “ongoing and progressing” talks was to continue consultations with the Qatari mediators, and that Tehran was prepared for “both defence and diplomacy”, Reuters reported. He said discussions on a “two-day proposal” were continuing but that no final conclusion had been reached. “We are doing our best in this process, and we hope that there is rationality on the other side so that they prioritise diplomacy over other paths,” he said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, Araghchi said the plan would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days of an agreement, provided Washington met a set of demands. These include lifting recently imposed US sanctions, reinstating oil waivers granted in June, reducing the US military presence in the region, recognising new shipping routes in the strait designated by Iran and Oman, and ending the conflict on all fronts, including Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Gulf News described the plan as a shortened version of an earlier seven-day proposal, and noted that the United States has not publicly accepted it.
Washington’s response
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Qatar-led talks were under way but said he was not aware of a timeframe. “There are multiple talks. Talks have actually never stopped,” he said, according to Al Jazeera. “If there is a diplomatic solution, we would be open to it.” President Donald Trump has said the United States will not launch new attacks on Iran before the November 3 midterm elections, though he has not ruled out military action afterwards, Reuters reported. On Saturday he described the negotiations as “going fine” but “not very reliable”, Al Jazeera said.
Warnings over tech infrastructure
The warning about AI facilities echoes threats Iranian officials have made in recent weeks. On October 22, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told the state-run Press TV that more than $2 trillion worth of US-linked technology infrastructure in the region could be at risk. “We have not yet included these assets among our targets. But if war breaks out, many of these cables, data centers, artificial intelligence facilities, and numerous other sites will be destroyed,” he said, according to Al Arabiya. Two senior Iranian security officials later told Reuters that Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf.
On Saturday, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran’s response to any new attack would be “without any geographical limitations”, adding that the “data bank of targets should be updated so that the armed forces could hit all kinds of financial and non-financial assets”, Fortune reported. Al Jazeera has noted that Amazon Web Services said two of its facilities in the United Arab Emirates were directly struck by drones in March.
The war, which began on February 28, has disrupted global oil supplies and spilled across the Middle East. LNA will continue to follow developments.
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