U.S. and Iranian delegations were sent to Qatar on Tuesday as peace talks were set to resume in Doha, but the talks started with the basic terms still unsettled. Iran said it had not agreed to meet directly, even as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Doha to meet Qatari mediators.
That made the day’s importance plain. The talks were tied to nuclear issues, sanctions, regional security and the $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds that Qatar still holds, a mix that keeps every step in Doha politically loaded. For readers watching News closely, the question was not only whether the parties were talking again, but whether they were talking in the same room or only through Qatar.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said there would be technical talks this week on issues including regional security, with the discussions potentially moving later to senior level. He said the process had separate tracks, including one for the nuclear file, one for the economic and state performance issue, and one for security and regional security. In his words, there was a track on the nuclear side, a track on the economic and state performance issue, and a track on security and the regional security.
The friction is that the resume button did not erase the damage from the weekend. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha on Tuesday after exchanges of fire over the weekend, and those exchanges tested the June 17 interim accord between the United States and Iran. Even as the mediation gathered pace, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said dialogue with mediator Qatar on implementation of the interim deal was likely to take place in Doha on Wednesday, while also accusing the U.S. of politicizing the World Cup and saying American officials acted contrary to the principles expected of a host country.
Qatar has also been coordinating with Oman on the safe passage for vessels, a sign that the talks are moving against a wider security backdrop in the Gulf. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was rebounding after the weekend attacks, and the pressure on the corridor was underscored by the UAE saying June crude and condensate exports hit a record 3.7 million barrels per day. The next test in Doha is whether the mediation can turn technical contacts into a working implementation track before the broader disputes pull the talks apart again.
