President Trump on Monday said that the US and Iran will hold negotiations in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday despite the two sides trading strikes over the weekend, though an Iranian official denied that technical talks under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were scheduled.
“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA! President DJT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The White House said that President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will be traveling to Qatar for the meeting.
Hours earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that “technical meetings of the working groups have not been scheduled for this week,” though he added that consultations with Qatar have continued.
“The first round of technical talks within the framework of the designated working groups will be held once conditions are met and after agreement is reached on the date and venue,” Gharibabadi said, according to Iran’s PressTV.
Axios reported on Sunday that the US and Iran have agreed to stop striking each other and would hold talks in Qatar to discuss the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz rather than hold technical discussions on Iran’s nuclear program in Switzerland. An Iranian official also said that the nuclear talks were suspended due to the US attacks on Iran.
Iran has maintained that the language of the MoU means it is solely responsible for transit through the Strait of Hormuz and that any other arrangements violate the agreement. The exchange of strikes began after a drone hit a tanker that was attempting to cross the strait under a UN-backed route that wasn’t coordinated with Iran.
The US then bombed Iran on Friday, and Iranian forces hit back at US bases in Bahrain, and another tanker was struck by a drone. The US then struck targets in Iran for the second time, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday morning. Since then, there have been no known US or Iranian attacks.
