President Donald Trump said the United States and Iran will hold talks Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, after a weekend of strikes and counterstrikes in the Gulf. Trump wrote on social media Monday that Iran had requested the meeting.
Iran did not confirm whether it will participate in the talks, which would be the next round in negotiations aimed at advancing an interim peace deal. The latest exchange of hostilities began Thursday when Iran attacked a cargo ship near Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military responded with strikes on missile and drone sites along Iran’s territory bordering the waterway, and Iran launched counterstrikes at U.S. military and naval facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The two sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Trump warned Iran on Sunday, writing on social media: “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi was quoted by Iranian media Monday as saying that while consultations continue with mediator Qatar, technical talks with the U.S. are not yet planned for this week and will be held only “when the conditions are met.” He did not elaborate.
A senior White House official who was not authorized to brief the press told NPR on Sunday that technical talks to implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Iran “are on track for the coming days as planned.” The official added that “deconfliction channels are up and running after the Lake Lucerne Summit,” referring to talks led by Vice President Vance in Switzerland two weeks ago.
At the conclusion of those talks, mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the two countries had agreed to establish a communication line “to avoid incidents” in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian officials said a deconfliction cell was created to monitor a parallel ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday, in remarks carried by the Fars News Agency, that $6 billion of Iran’s frozen assets in Qatar will be released as part of the interim deal signed with the U.S. Iran says it has some $12 billion of its money frozen in bank accounts in Qatar. Oil sanctions that Washington had already temporarily lifted are also part of the arrangement, Pezeshkian said.
Qatar and Pakistan mediated the high-level talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Switzerland two weeks ago, which paved the way for further negotiations.
Iran’s attacks on cargo ships derailed United Nations-backed efforts to evacuate thousands of seafarers through a route near Oman following months of war and closure of the strategic waterway. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which was not involved in clearing the route, warned Thursday that ships that do not coordinate passage with its naval forces “will be dealt with” as violators.
On Monday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gharibabadi visited Oman to exchange views on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz. A day earlier, during a visit to Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters that commercial traffic through the strait is supposed to return to pre-war levels within 30 days of the preliminary agreement. He said the waterway is under Iran’s sole management and that responsibility for removing “obstacles” and ensuring it reopens “rests with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The U.S. Central Command said it struck missile and drone sites along Iran’s territory bordering the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and Saturday, in response to Iran’s attacks on two cargo ships, including one carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil. The weekend strikes came days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Kuwait and Bahrain to reassure Gulf allies of the U.S. commitment to their security and to hear their perspectives on the U.S.-Iran interim deal.