Contacts between Iran and the United States to end their eight-month war are continuing, Tehran said on Monday, after days of Iranian talks with Qatari mediators ended with altered proposals but no breakthrough.

“Consultations through mediators ​are very intensive. We have presented our conditions and proposals and everything depends on the political rationality of Washington,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in ‌comments carried by state media outlet IRNA.

Amid fears the conflict could reignite after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States, China and Russia both spoke out on Monday against the possibility of renewed military action in a war that has hit the global economy.

While oil prices fell nearly 4% on Monday on hopes that the latest round of mediation could lead to a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Iranian ​sources said they believed a new US attack was still more likely than a deal.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the plan Iran had submitted in September to ​end the war remained the focus of discussions, but he confirmed comments attributed to Araqchi on Saturday that the proposal could be shortened.

“The basis ⁠of dialogue and talks between Iran and the US via mediators is still Iran’s seven-step proposal, which is now condensed, making it possible to implement it within two days,” he said.

US President ​Donald Trump rejected the seven-step proposal in September.

The plan would call for the US to end its blockade on Iranian ports, Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway, a US waiver ​on Iranian oil sales, the cancellation of new sanctions on Iran and then talks on other issues.

Baghaei reiterated that condensing the plan would not change Iran’s underlying stance that a return to talks on the country’s nuclear programme could only happen after it verified that all its conditions were met.

Asked whether the possibility of transferring Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to another country was raised in the talks, and whether Iran might agree to that, ​he said no.

An official briefed on the talks said Iran’s negotiators had left on Sunday but not because of any problems in the talks, and added that a draft proposal was ​being circulated without elaborating.

Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran on Monday night for talks with Araqchi on a version of the draft US-Iran deal that has been under negotiation for the past eight days, an official briefed ‌on the ⁠talks said.

On Monday, Trump said Iran wants to make a deal to end the war and that such an agreement “could happen.” He did not immediately provide details.

The war, which the US and Israel launched suddenly on February 28, has led to Iran’s closure of the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, the US blockade on Iranian ports, repeated bouts of Iranian drone and missile fire on Gulf states and renewed conflict in Yemen.

Trump has repeatedly said there would be no new attack on Iran before Tuesday’s midterm elections. Iran has said it will respond to any resumed ​attack aggressively with plans to strike targets both ​within and outside the Middle East.

China’s Foreign ⁠Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that all parties to the conflict should focus on political solutions rather than resorting to arms again, after a meeting with senior Iranian security official Ali Bagheri Kani in Beijing.

China, a major customer for Gulf energy products, is engaging more actively in ​Middle East diplomacy this week, hosting Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, whose country flanks the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz.

Wang ​also met Saudi Arabia’s national ⁠security advisor Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban in Beijing on Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said, adding that all sides should work to safeguard regional energy and shipping lane security.

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said reports of new military action against Iran were a cause for extreme concern and called for increased diplomatic efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei on Monday, Iranian ⁠state media ​reported.

Underscoring the risks to global energy supply, a Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker was struck in the Gulf by ​unidentified objects on Friday, its operator Nakilat said on Sunday.

While attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and Red Sea have been common during the conflict, attacks on LNG carriers have been rare, with the last reported incident with a ​Qatari tanker happening in early July.

Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in a bid ​to de-escalate the Middle East conflict, as Yemen’s Houthis launched new attacks on Saudi Arabia and Egypt approved defence support for the Gulf kingdom.

The talks were the first high-level ‌contact between Iran and the three nations — which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August — since a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to “prevent the return of military escalation”.

It was represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir; and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, ​Saudi and Iranian officials said.

Iranian state media published pictures of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, attending the ​meetings. At the conclusion, the four states agreed to continue talks with a view to strengthening cooperation in peace and security, state media reported.

Pakistan and ⁠Qatar have led mediation efforts in the war.

Earlier efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, but fighting between Iran and the US soon resumed. Conflict then flared between the Iran-aligned Houthis and US ally ​Saudi Arabia, opening a new front.

US AND IRAN THREATEN NEW ATTACKS

The wider fighting has restricted shipping through the energy chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, pushed up global oil and gas prices, left Gulf states facing ​missile and drone attacks, and caused a new humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharpened recently, with President Donald Trump saying on Friday the US may strike Iran again. Iranian security officials told Reuters Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the US and Israel attack again.

The war, which earlier in the year also reignited fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, has eroded Trump’s approval ratings ahead of the US midterm elections that decide control of ​Congress.

Iranian security chief Rezaei said the visit by the three countries had shown that “American threats have little impact on countries around the world”. He spoke of a “new and positive atmosphere” in the region.

Iranian ​Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei had earlier said the meeting, proposed when Munir visited Tehran last week, could be a first step towards establishing regional security mechanisms.

A senior Pakistani security official said the focus was on building a ‌regional non-aggression network. ⁠The agenda also included US-Iran talks, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and a US blockade of Iranian ports, they said.

Another Pakistani official said Munir, with a go-ahead from Trump to try diplomacy, had presented Iran with a solution to the conflict that would offer something to both the US and Iran, without giving details.

The Mecca pact states and Qatar could act as guarantors if it was accepted, the official added.

An Iranian official had earlier said there would be no discussion of Iran’s nuclear programme at Monday’s meeting, and the issue would not be addressed until Tehran’s demands for ending the war ​were met.

Those conditions include ending a US blockade ​of Iranian ports and lifting sanctions on ⁠Iranian oil exports. US Vice President JD Vance has said Iran must reduce nuclear enrichment to end the war.

Pakistan’s military media office and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

PARLIAMENT APPROVES EGYPTIAN DEFENCE SUPPORT FOR SAUDIS

Saudi Arabia has intensified strikes against the Houthis since they captured strategic areas ​along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month, advancing against Saudi-backed government forces. The Houthis have hit Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities.

On Monday, the ​Houthis said they had attacked ⁠pumping stations on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline as well as Riyadh airport, which said it had resumed operations at two terminals a day earlier. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the Houthi attacks.

Parliament in Egypt, which has said it is considering joining the Mecca pact, on Monday authorised the Egyptian military to help defend Saudi Arabia, a major financial and political partner for Cairo.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement says signatories shall use “all ⁠necessary means” to ​eliminate threats to one another’s territorial integrity, sovereignty or internationally recognised borders, according to a text seen by Reuters.

The pact’s ​members held an emergency meeting in Riyadh this month and agreed to ensure the “rapid deployment” of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.

Efforts by Turkey’s parliament to ratify the agreement began last week and are still under way, while Pakistan approved the pact ​last week.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that the outcome of the Israeli elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a tight race will make “no difference”, AFP reported.

“It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region,” said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.

Tuesday’s legislative elections will take place amid mounting threats by Israel and the United States to renew attacks on Iran after they launched their war in late February.

Netanyahu has in recent days repeatedly said the only way to remove the threat posed by Iran is to topple its government.

On Sunday, he told Israel’s Channel 14 that he had “instructed the Mossad and the IDF to overthrow the Iranian regime”.

Baqaei dismissed Netanyahu’s remarks as “empty threats” and a “sign of desperation”.