U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Wednesday with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani for a second consecutive day as indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations on implementing a ceasefire agreement continued in Doha. Iran and Qatar have said no direct high-level meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials are planned, with discussions proceeding exclusively through Qatari intermediaries, according to a spokesperson cited by The New York Times.
Wednesday’s talks focus on implementing the ceasefire agreement outlined in a memorandum of understanding signed June 17, a spokesperson told The Times. The mediators are working through specific provisions of the deal as both sides seek to translate the framework into concrete actions.
Iran’s negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, laid out the most important provisions of the MoU in an interview with Iranian state media Tuesday, identifying Articles 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 as prerequisite from Iran’s perspective, CNN reported.
Article 1 demands an end to all fighting, including in Lebanon, where Israel and Lebanon signed a separate ceasefire agreement Saturday but Hezbollah has not yet agreed to it. Article 4 requires the United States to lift its naval blockade while Iran allows shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. Navy is no longer actively blocking the strait but retains a naval presence in the area, according to the report.
Article 5 specifies that Iran will permit passage through the strait with no tolls for 60 days. The next two articles address Iran’s oil revenue and frozen assets. Article 10 states that the United States will allow waivers for Iran to sell its oil — a step the U.S. has taken, at least for a 60-day period. Article 11 calls for the United States to make frozen Iranian assets available, though that provision remains unclear, with the U.S. saying Iran must fulfill its commitments first.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is gradually increasing. Thirty-four vessels passed through the strategic waterway on Tuesday, CNN reported, though that figure remains far short of pre-war levels, which saw about 100 ships per day.
The talks mark another step in months of on-and-off negotiations between Washington and Tehran, mediated primarily by Qatar and Pakistan, following the outbreak of direct military conflict earlier this year and a subsequent ceasefire framework.