U.S. envoys arrive in Qatar for meetings on Iran
Two U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar on Tuesday for talks with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran, an official said.
The visit by Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's special Mideast envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, comes after a weekend of crossfire in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.
The envoys won't be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Qatar's capital, Doha, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar's Foreign Ministry. Instead, mediators are working for the time being as go-betweens for the talks, which won't include any high-level officials, he added.
Such indirect negotiations have happened in the past between Iran and the U.S. However, the two previous rounds of talks collapsed into the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in 2025 and the recent Iran war.
"We're not expecting any high-level Iranian officials at the moment, but as I said, the technical meetings are ongoing ... and they haven't stopped since then," al-Ansari told journalists at a weekly news conference.
Iran was also sending a delegation to Qatar this week. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that Iran has had no plans for a meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days.
"What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran's blocked assets," Baghaei told journalists at his own briefing.
However, that left open the possibility of messages being passed to the Qataris between the two sides.
The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed oil sanctions on the country, calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.
A fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the Strait of Hormuz before the war began Feb. 28. Iran's attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, creating a global energy crisis.
The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite being in Iran and Oman's territorial waters.
Both sides traded strikes amid efforts last week to open Oman's territorial waters in the strait to both inbound and outbound ship traffic from the Persian Gulf. That raised concerns that negotiations to formally end the war could be disrupted.
Iran twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — and drew retaliatory American airstrikes. Iran also launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.
Source: Associated Press
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/321004 |