Iran announced it would send a delegation to Qatar on Tuesday for technical meetings, while stressing there would be no direct negotiations with the other side. Meanwhile, Washington said envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Qatar “this week” to take part in high-level meetings. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
US and Iranian delegations in Qatar, no bilateral meeting confirmed
The US and Iran have a roughly mid-August deadline to reach a permanent peace deal including an agreement on Iran‘s disputed nuclear program.
What’s ahead are technical talks involving lower-level diplomats before any return to the table by top negotiators. Mediators are eager to get going. Pakistan, a key mediator along with Qatar, has said talks would resume Tuesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, were flying to Qatar to meet with the Iranians and that technical negotiations would occur on the sidelines.
Later, Iranian state media cited Baghaei as saying an expert delegation will travel to Qatar this week but with no planned US meetings.
There’s plenty to discuss, including arrangements around the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions waivers on Iran and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike hit the country’s south, despite a framework accord signed by the two countries last week aimed at securing a peace deal.
US President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters in the Oval Office that the US-Iran meeting in Qatar this week will be “perhaps important, perhaps not”.
The removal of mines from the Strait of Hormuz is to be carried out solely by Iran according to the Islamabad MoU between Tehran and Washington, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X on Monday, in response to French President Macron’s comments on the subject.
