US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are in Doha to discuss the US-Iran negotiations with mediators, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman says, but they will not meet Iranian officials there.
Majed al-Ansari told reporters that no high-level meetings or direct talks between the two sides were scheduled in the coming days. The US and Iran agreed to stop attacking each other and send delegations to the Gulf state following a four-day exchange of strikes triggered by a dispute over the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway.
The strikes threatened the preliminary agreement to end the four-month war between the US, Israel and Iran. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) brokered by Pakistan and Qatar less than two weeks ago committed the countries to halt military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, and immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of global oil and gas shipments pass.
They also gave themselves at least 60 days to reach a final deal that covers Iran's nuclear programme, US sanctions and a permanent truce.
Pakistani and Qatari mediators said encouraging progress was made at the first round of talks held in Switzerland a week ago, which US Vice-President JD Vance and Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf attended.
They also said a "communication line" had been formed to enable the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
But that failed to prevent the recent exchanges of strikes, which began when Iran attacked a cargo ship on Thursday following efforts to open Oman's territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic on the southern side of the strait. Iran had warned vessels that the only route was through its own waters on the northern side.
FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpd38x1dy4no
