Iran and US Set Doha Talks With Qatar Over Frozen Assets and Lebanon Ceasefire

Indirect talks are set for Doha on Wednesday between Iran and mediators and between the United States and mediators, four days after negotiations between Washington and Tehran were frozen.

“DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran had requested a meeting with U”

ABC7 Los Angeles

Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said “Iranian officials are not expected to arrive in Doha at this stage,” while Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran’s technical delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi.

ABC7 Los Angeles

The talks are tied to implementation of a memorandum of understanding, including a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of frozen Iranian assets, with the United States having frozen $12 billion in Iranian funds in Qatar.

Baghaei said Wednesday’s meeting in Doha would focus on discussions with Qatar over implementation of parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of frozen Iranian assets, and he said talks on implementing the commitment to release Iran’s frozen assets are “progressing well.”

Hostilities across the Persian Gulf have complicated the diplomacy, with AP reporting that the United States and Iran separately announced they will send delegations to Qatar this week while Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the U.S. “at any level.”

AP said U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting and that they planned to convene Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, but Iranian senior negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi denied talks had been confirmed.

Al Jazeera

In parallel, the Jerusalem Post reported that Qatar’s Foreign Ministry stated that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would not hold direct discussions with Iranian officials during the day’s negotiations, adding that “No high-level meeting is planned at this stage between the United States and Iran.”

The Jerusalem Post also said the Strait of Hormuz, its opening and the resumption of navigation through it are “issues of paramount importance,” as the resumption of negotiations comes after technical talks in Switzerland described by Qatari and Pakistani mediators as a “positive and constructive atmosphere.”

The next steps in the Qatar process hinge on how frozen funds are released and on maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, with Ynetnews describing Iran conditioning any final agreement on implementation of memorandum terms including a ceasefire in Lebanon.

“While mediators rely on the planned US-Iran talks in Doha today, Wednesday, as a first step to safeguard the political track between the two sides, analysts are more pessimistic and see that it may be a prelude to re-closing the Strait of Hormuz and perhaps to resuming the war unless the parties make serious concessions”

Al-Jazeera Net

Ynetnews reported that the Wall Street Journal said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told mediators it would again close the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran does not receive guarantees during the talks that it is the sole authority controlling the waterway.

AP said the interim deal gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements and calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while it also described recent attacks in the strait and retaliatory American airstrikes that raised concerns negotiations could be disrupted.

The Jerusalem Post said the accord “paves the way for 60 days of more in-depth talks on thornier issues such as Iran's nuclear program,” placing the nuclear track alongside the immediate dispute over navigation and the transfer of the “six billion dollars of frozen Iranian funds” that Qatar said have not yet been transferred to Tehran.