Qatar emerges as key broker in US-Iran nuclear talks breakthrough

Qatar's active mediation played a central role in the rapid progress made in US-Iran negotiations, it has emerged.

CNN reported Wednesday that Qatari officials' recent mediation efforts in Tehran were decisive in narrowing key differences between Washington and Tehran.

"The mediators made a real breakthrough," one source said, adding they were "cautiously optimistic" that a deal could be reached.

Qatari envoy Ali Al-Thawadi met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran from Tuesday into the early hours of Wednesday to work through outstanding differences. The talks produced significant progress on what had been considered the thorniest issues: how to unfreeze Iran's blocked assets, the framework for future nuclear negotiations, and arrangements for normal operations through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran passed a revised draft agreement to the United States through Qatar earlier this week, according to sources, and Washington responded with its own position, substantially narrowing the gap between the two sides.

The US government also concluded that Qatar's mediation helped resolve the core sticking points. Although Donald Trump had publicly expressed frustration over delays in Iran's responses, Qatar's intervention gave the negotiations fresh momentum.

Trump said Wednesday that the talks were in their final document-drafting stage and that a signing ceremony could take place in Europe this weekend.