A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran has sent a nuclear proposal to Washington via Qatar, and that discussion of it will not begin before the United States meets its seven demands. The New York Times reported that Iran is reviewing a set of proposals presented by mediators on the future of its nuclear program, and that Tehran has shown readiness to resume nuclear talks after weeks of refusing to offer any concessions. The paper cited five officials familiar with the negotiations, including an American official and two Iranian officials, and said the items on the table are concrete proposals. It also reported that the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, expressed openness to private meetings on the nuclear file.
Separately, Rezaei delivered a message from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in the Kremlin that addressed ending the war and regional security. Rezaei said Tehran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz before the full implementation of its seven conditions, while the two sides discussed building pipelines to transfer Russian gas to Iran, enabling Tehran to meet its gas needs and sell to neighboring countries. Rezaei said Putin affirmed his readiness to provide any assistance to end the war, and that he reviewed with him details of a meeting held in Tehran with Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Russia's Foreign Ministry recommended temporarily refraining from travel to Iran until conditions stabilize.
On the security front, a sixth American drone crashed over Iran's Qeshm island amid talk of a hidden war escalating in the region, with no details on the circumstances of the incident or who was responsible. Israeli assessments are mounting that U.S. President Donald Trump may launch a new military attack on Iran after the Republican Party's severe loss in the midterm congressional elections, with a 'strike first, then negotiations' scenario, while Washington continues to reinforce its military deployment without confirming that an attack decision has been made. Russian documents cited by the Financial Times showed that Moscow agreed to supply Iran with 90 APU-L launcher platforms for attack helicopters, for use with LMUR precision-guided missiles up to a range of 14 kilometers, though there is still no confirmation that the platforms have been manufactured or delivered.
In Washington, declassified U.S. court documents revealed that the Trump administration held undeclared contacts with Iranian officials about deporting Iranian citizens from the United States despite the ongoing war. Federal Judge Ana Reyes ordered the government to notify the court 24 hours before adopting any final deportation plan, amid rights concerns that asylum seekers could face grave danger if returned to Iran. The Republican loss of the congressional majority also exposed divisions inside the administration, with Vice President JD Vance blaming the war for the defeat and the Pentagon awaiting possible dismissals of military leaders and potential Democratic investigations. Diplomatically, the UAE foreign minister received a phone call from his Iranian counterpart to discuss regional conditions, in a call described as notable between Araghchi and bin Zayed. A French reading of the 'no war, no peace' situation said Paris is pushing for 'hard' negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program and freedom of navigation, after President Emmanuel Macron toured five of six Gulf states, warning that the status quo or a return to war harms the regional economy.