Trump, Iran Pause Strikes as Delegations Head to Qatar for Talks

The United States and Iran paused strikes but disagreed over next steps on talks after attacks across the Persian Gulf challenged negotiations to end the war, with both sides separately announcing they will send delegations to Qatar this week.

“Iran's president says 6-bln-USD frozen funds in Qatar to be released Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that frozen Iranian assets worth 6 billion U”

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U.S. President Donald Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts and that they planned to convene Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were flying to Qatar.

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Iran’s senior negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi denied talks had been scheduled, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran was sending its delegation to Qatar to discuss terms of the interim deal without involving the U.S.

The AP report said the interim deal agreed earlier this month calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium, waives U.S.-backed sanctions, opens the Strait of Hormuz, and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

As hostilities mounted in the Strait of Hormuz, the AP report said a U.S. official told it that Qatar planned to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets that would be used to purchase U.S. food products for the Iranian people.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the expected release of funds was a “a great victory for the Iranian people,” and AP reported that he is the highest-ranking official within Iran to reference the release of the funds held by Qatar.

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AP also reported that one of Iran’s senior negotiators denied talks had been scheduled, while Baghaei said “There are no negotiation meetings with the U.S. side at any level scheduled in the coming days,” even as U.S. representatives were traveling to Qatar.

In a separate report, MyNorthwest said Pezeshkian was cited by the state-run IRNA news agency saying “$6 billion out of the total $12 billion of Iranian resources in Qatar will be released and returned to the country,” and that “necessary follow-ups are being carried out.”

The AP report tied the financial and diplomatic uncertainty to the Strait of Hormuz, saying that during the war that began Feb. 28, Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait and created a global energy crisis.

It said Iran twice attacked vessels in the strait in recent days, including a tanker filled with Qatari crude, and that retaliatory American airstrikes raised concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted.

Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi told Radio Monte Carlo while visiting France that Oman and Iran are considering charging service-related fees for commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including water safety measures, pollution prevention, navigational assistance and preparedness for incidents such as fires.

Albusaidi said Oman does not support imposing transit fees on ships, adding “This is internationally forbidden,” and the AP report said the Trump administration was operating Monday on the understanding that vessels can move freely through the Strait of Hormuz.