Al Jazeera

By Enes Abuomer and Leila Minkara

•     Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran remains “in close and ongoing contact” with mediators on ideas to implement its seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
•     US President Donald Trump denies media reports that said he directed Vice President JD Vance to begin peace talks with Iran, suggesting the contact was about Tehran’s need for “help with medical supplies”.
•     Saudi-led coalition intercepts ballistic missile fired by Houthis as air traffic is suspended in Yemen’s Aden after a sixth attack on the city’s international airport.
•     Hezbollah again rejects disarmament as Israeli forces continue attacks on southern Lebanon and Gaza, wounding at least seven Palestinians in one attack.

What we know about Vance’s reported outreach to Iran

    The Wall Street Journal first reported the alleged outreach, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter. The New York Times has since reported on the letter as well, citing a senior US official and an Iranian official familiar with the communication.

    Here’s what the two outlets are reporting:

•     According to the Journal, Vance’s letter to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, is meant to test whether Tehran and Washington can find enough common ground to persuade Trump not to order a short, intense strike on Iran in the coming weeks.
•     The letter and follow-up discussions between US and Iranian officials have not included specific peace terms, focusing instead on a possible framework for negotiations, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
•     The Times said the letter was sent last week through Qatari mediators and delivered on Sunday. In it, Vance offered to lead the US delegation and proposed putting Iran’s nuclear programme on the table from the outset.
•     An Iranian official told the Times that Iran’s leaders received the proposal positively and that Rezaei is expected to reply formally by Thursday. Both officials said talks could begin as soon as next week in Qatar or Turkiye, though the letter set no date or venue.
•     Separately, the Reuters news agency reported that Qatari mediators had presented Iran with a new draft deal to end the war. But it said a senior Iranian official had dismissed the plan as “unacceptable ideas and not an offer”.

Families brace for a fourth winter of wind, rain and floods in Gaza’s camps

By Maram Humaid

    Gaza City — Mohammed al-Jamal, 60, tries to secure the nylon sheets of his family’s worn-out tent as a storm approaches his displacement camp on a beach in western Gaza City. He and his sons pull at the tarpaulin, trying to fasten it firmly to the ground for protection from rain and wind coming in from the sea.

    This will be the fourth winter that displaced Palestinians in Gaza have faced without adequate shelter.

    Many still live in tents and makeshift structures that offer little protection against the impending winter weather, when temperatures can drop to 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit) but can feel much colder due to strong coastal winds and rain.

    “We are trying to prepare as much as we can to protect ourselves from the water and the wind,” al-Jamal said. “We follow the weather reports, and whenever there is a warning of a storm, we start preparing. But once the storm comes, everything gets torn apart, and we have to start all over again. It is continuous suffering throughout the winter.”

What has Khamenei said about Iran’s stance in talks with US

    As diplomatic efforts to end the US-Israel war on Iran appear to gather pace, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has signalled that Tehran will not soften its terms for ending the conflict.

    In a meeting on Tuesday with Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Khamenei “placed a premium on the need to secure Iran’s conditions for ending the war and the state of ‘neither war nor peace’,” according to Press TV, Iran’s government-funded English-language broadcaster. He also called for protecting the rights and interests of the Iranian people and of the so-called “axis of resistance”, the network of armed groups allied with Tehran.

    The two men also discussed “safeguarding national and regional security by maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz,” according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency, as well as strengthening ties with neighbouring countries.

    On Wednesday, President Masoud Pezeshkian said the supreme leader’s directive carried a significant message and set the strategic course for the country, Press TV reported.

    He said his government would work diligently to achieve the goals laid out by Khamenei, and urged state agencies to remain ready to act as circumstances evolve.

Iran weighs confrontation, diplomacy as it pushes its demands in 7-day plan

By Tohid Asadi

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

    Based on what we heard from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, we can say that Tehran is continuing to deliver two important messages.

    The twofold message is that Tehran has been constantly weighing the possibility of another round of confrontation on the one hand, while leaving the doors open for diplomacy on the other.

    Araghchi talked about the continuation of diplomatic engagement regarding the seven-day plan.

    On the plan, we know that it dates back to when the Iranian delegation was in New York for the UN General Assembly. The plan has resurfaced following the recent diplomatic engagements in the region and specifically following Qatar’s involvement.

    We spoke to a security source who told Al Jazeera that this plan is not fundamentally new.

    The Iranian side, particularly the deputy to the Supreme National Security Council of the country, said that the issue is not the number of days, as Iran can reduce it.

    The key point of concern for Iran is not the duration of an interim deal, but the extent to which Iran’s seven demands and conditions could be fulfilled.

EU ministers to discuss energy security as winter looms

    Energy ministers of European Union states will meet in Luxembourg on Thursday to discuss soaring fuel prices driven by the wars in Ukraine, Iran and Yemen, ahead of the winter season.

    “The discussion will address short-term supply and price pressures” as well as “longer-term challenges, particularly the impact of climate change,” the EU’s Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council said in a statement.

    The meeting comes as the EU is entering the winter heating season, with stocks at only 75 percent of available storage, compared with 83 percent a year ago. The European Commission began talks with European refineries on Wednesday to find ways to boost output, including through the possible easing of some technical specifications.

    EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Wednesday that the bloc was facing “a very serious situation”. He said affordability was just as urgent an issue as security of supply, arguing that available supply meant little to households and businesses that could not afford it.

    European wholesale gas prices briefly touched 100 euros ($111) per megawatt hour on Wednesday for the first time since December 2022, when Europe was reeling from the loss of most of its Russian pipeline gas supply. Prices have been rising as conflict in the Middle East has escalated, and are now trading at around triple the levels seen before the war on Iran began.

Oil prices fall in early trading

    Brent crude futures have declined 82 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $114.50 a barrel in early Asian trading on Thursday.

    US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $1.04, or 1.0 percent, at $101.74.

    The fall pares the previous day’s gains and comes amid hopes for peace talks even as concerns remain over supply disruptions from escalating hostilities, including in Yemen.

Espionage threats blur lines between security and dissent in Iran

    While two wars on Iran by the United States and Israel have exposed serious vulnerabilities in Iran’s intelligence and security institutions, Iran is using the threat to crack down on dissent, analysts have said.

    Saeid Golkar, an associate professor in political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said the genuine espionage threats faced by Iran were illustrated by the killing of high-level figures, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the latest assault by Israel and the US on February 28.

    “At the same time, the regime has historically used real or, most of the time, perceived security threats to justify political repression and expand its coercive apparatus,” Golkar told Al Jazeera.

    “The current crackdown appears to reflect both legitimate counterintelligence concerns and the regime’s broader efforts to suppress dissent and intimidate society.”

Obama says war on Iran has made the US ‘more vulnerable’

    We just brought you Trump’s comments as the campaign heats up ahead of the November 3 midterms. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama has been out on the trail too, rallying voters in Morrow, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.

    Obama slammed Trump’s rationale for launching the war against Iran, saying Tehran did not have any nuclear weapons. He noted that the 2015 agreement his administration had signed with Tehran had curbed the country’s nuclear programme.

    “I didn’t have to fire any missiles. I engaged in diplomacy.”

    He also criticised the war’s toll. “Our allies and bases have been attacked. Americans have been killed. Hundreds of Americans have been wounded. We have run down our stock of missiles, making us more vulnerable, and Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

    Obama added, “This is the reason why the price of oil is up.”